The Flora and Fauna
by ThePizzaLovingTurtle
Summary: Captain Olimar and his co-worker Louie must brave the indigenous species of a distant planet to bring home the bacon, or in this case, salvage treasure. Olimar takes it upon himself to record the misadventures he experiences in hopes of furthering knowledge of this strange new world.
1. Red Bulborb

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Red Bulborbs and Buried Batteries**

Captain Olimar sat at a small table, one gloved hand on his face. He was a man with three well groomed brown hairs, a rather large round nose, and two lines for eyes. He appeared to be wearing some sort of yellow spacesuit, sitting on a small pipe stool. A round window to his right shown with the barely visible light of stars in the evening sky.

* * *

Olimar of Hocotate Freight is a man, or alien on a mission. Soon after escaping a particularly nasty crash landing on an alien planet, with the help of curious specimen called Pikmin, he made his way home in his spaceship, greeted by the boss of his company and an employee named Louie. Unfortunately, debt problems and the fact that Louie managed to lose precious cargo spelled disaster, as Olimar's ship was sold, barely paying off any debt the company owed. However, now, after a souvenir Olimar brought home was scanned and deemed a treasure, he is back on the planet he crash-landed on, scouring the land for treasure the company can sell to pay off debts. Thing is, even with the re-enlisted help of the Pikmin species and Louie at his side, it proves extremely difficult for the captain and his compadre, wildlife and hazards all around the planet, some inches higher than them making it difficult for any type of treasure hunting. Oh, and Olimar, Louie, and the Pikmin are hardly taller than pennies, for whatever reason, in comparison to everything else on the planet at least. And actual pennies.

* * *

Now, Captain Olimar, sitting by his ship's table, looked over a chart with various pictures of alien species, some ranging from fierce to friendly. All of a sudden, Olimar's face lit up, the small man taking a closer look at the chart. Tapping on the face of a creature, the chart zoomed in on the nasty blighter. Olimar, pulling up a keyboard on the side of the desk, began typing, reading out what he was typing as he did so.

"Red Bulborbs…" He began, reflecting off to a previous day.

* * *

Olimar ran, a large creature doing its best to sprint after him. The creature in question had large eyestalks with blue pupils eyeing the captain with a hunger in its eyes. The creature hobbled after him on two skinny legs supporting its large body, though the creature was making a good pace, hungrily chasing after the captain. Olimar dodged and weaved through bushes of clovers and grass sprouts, the creature still very close on his tail.

He ducked behind a decaying log, breathing in and out. He looked around. More bushes and tall ridges forming a lane in the ground. As he breathed in the air of his spacesuit, he silently attempted to formulate a plan. His Pikmin were all back at the base camp, nesting in their Onions. That was meters away to him, and they were all behind the monstrosity tailing him. So, he persevered through the bushes, sprouts, and other such natural obstacles while the Bulborb bumbled on after him.

* * *

Eventually, Olimar tired out, lying down in a safe spot behind a large oak tree, the rampage of the ladybug-esque creature drowned in in the distance. He continually breathed in and out rapidly, sucking in the precious air still left in his tank. He sighed, leaning back on the tree, landing on something in the process. Olimar blinked, standing back up quickly, somewhat frightfully. He peered down at the dirt. A gleaming object was stuck in the ground, sticking out, a circular, flat silver sheen glinting out of the dirt. Olimar gulped, touching the top. It felt smooth to the touch. He glanced about. Still no sign of the Bulborb creature. Stooping down, he attempted to dig it out, finding that the earth was solid and difficult to extract from. Olimar sighed, shaking his head, quickly giving up on the endeavor.

That was until he heard a squeak. Olimar looked about, among the other larger trees in the forest. He frowned. The curious, high-pitched sound emanated once more from its unknown hiding spot. Olimar looked up through his space helmet, gulping.

"Whee!" Something cheered, hopping on his helmet.

Olimar stumbled back in fright. A yellow specimen dangled from his helmet's antenna, squeaking happily. It was a frail, small yellow creature, resembling a carrot with legs. It was yellow, four tiny limbs grappling to the antenna like it was a ride, two ears wiggling cheerfully overhead, with an antenna of its own sticking out the top of its head, displaying a flower bud, white and ready to bloom at any moment.

Olimar stared at the Pikmin. It was happily dangling around on his helmet, until it spotted Olimar underneath it. It made a sound akin to an "Oh!", then hopped off, standing in front of Olimar dutifully. Olimar could not help but grin at the little creature's happy demeanor, waving towards it with a sort of a humor. The humor was dispelled when Olimar heard a shuffling noise behind him.

The Yellow Pikmin's eyes, if they were not already huge enough, expanded to the size of satellite dishes once it spotted what Olimar had heard. The bulbulous, bug-eyed predator was back. And it was glaring at the two. Olimar stared back, his normally relaxed, line-like pupils expanding to that of the Pikmin. A silent standoff ensued. Suddenly, the Bulborb began to open its mouth, whether to snarl or something, until a parade of squeaks sounded off from above. Its stalk, bulging eyes stared up.

It yelped as dozens of Yellow Pikmin landed on top of it, smacking its exposed irises and flesh with their tiny hands and larger, but still tiny bulbs. The Bulborb screeched, shaking some off with a shake of its head. Huffing, it started chasing after the shaken off Pikmin, growling terribly.

Olimar stared at the ferocity of the Pikmin with an astounded stare. As he did so, he felt a tug on his arm. Glancing to the side, he realized his yellow companion he had met earlier, was pointing forward, with a curious gaze. Something clicked inside of Olimar. On instinct, he took two fingers, placed them in front of his space helmet, and blew. Ignoring the logic behind that, a shrill whistle pierced the air. Yellow Pikmin still running about paused for a moment, the Bulborb also pausing for a brief moment, before they all assembled together, dashing towards the space captain, the Bulborb chasing after them, seeking vengeance for its sore back and twitching eye.

But Olimar came prepared. Or at least his mind did, as the only tools he needed was something to whistle with, and something to throw with. Which both happened to be his hands at the moment. Quickly, Olimar took hold behind him, standing poised to throw. The object in question?

A living carrot.

With calculated precision and speed, Olimar began chucking Yellow Pikmin, all uttering some form of high-pitched battle cry as they were flung, spinning through the air. They landed on the muzzle and eyes of the Bulborb, stunning it momentarily. It yelped again, attempting to clear its vision. While it tried and failed to wipe them off its face, Olimar tread past, his battalion of plant people following behind, waiting for his next command. Approaching the back of the beast, Olimar pointed towards the red and white speckled back of the Bulborb, a battle charge sounding off as he did so. With organized intent, the Pikmin began to, hardly mincing words here, attack the back of the Bulborb, the beast roaring even moreso now that its backside was under siege.

The Bulborb was not one to go down with a fight, however. With a wild shake, it smacked off a few of the budding soldiers, all hitting the ground with groans. The shake also momentarily smacked Olimar to the side, a buzz in his suit registering that he had taken damage. Olimar groaned, dazily getting to his feet. His eyes expanded once more. A few of the Pikmin shook off were consumed by the beast, each going down with a sad cry. He could swear he saw their yellow spirits leave the earth for the skies. He frowned, his eyes switching back to their default line shapes. He called the other Pikmin with another whistle somehow piercing through his space helmet out into the air without a whistle, (at least until the third installment) the remaining troops dashing off to meet Olimar, who, was also currently sprinting away from the enemy. The little carrots followed Olimar, running side by side in terror.

* * *

The following chase was essentially a recap of the morning, only Olimar had a larger company running with him. They had just about escaped the Red Bulborb, the only issue being the loud thumping it created as it chased after them. It was a constant reminder that the beast was following them, tracking them, and hungry. Olimar stumbled about the sprouts and weeds sticking out of the earth, halting for a moment. He glanced around at the large hills and the defined, natural path leading ahead. He knew this place.

Olimar grinned very lightly. With a gesture of his hand, he had the Pikmin pick up the pace behind him, the little creatures squeaking and clambering to follow the space captain. Weaving through twigs stuck in the dirt, the wild Pikmin followed Olimar. As they did so, they noticed the hills serving as walls began spreading out more, almost becoming a ring. They skidded to a halt, a few smacking into the backs of each other, a few squabbling in their incoherent pixie language. They ceased their bickering eventually, staring in front of them with a newfound curiosity and amazement.

A silicone, cylindrical ship pointed up into the sky, three oddly shaped pods scattered in a circle with the three primary colors, also standing on three prolonged legs of sorts. The Yellow Pikmin marveled at the objects.

A shrill whistle snapped the yellow organisms out of their doldrums. Olimar was in the middle of them all, pointing in two separate directions. The Pikmin gladly obeyed, dispersing into two groups while Olimar hurried towards the colored objects.

The Bulborb snapped a twig in its haste, towering over the grass blades and bumbling past logs angrily. It hissed, looking around with its great, blue pupils. Looking ahead into a plain clearing, it could vaguely make out a flower bud, moving erratically. The Bulborb smirked in a way only a Bulborb could with its… Odd facial structure. The Bulborb began bounding ahead, excitement and the prospect of food blocking out everything else in his head.

The trap was sprung. Similar in stature to their yellow brethren, red and blue cousins of the Yellow Pikmin sprung out, red noses and blues with gills resembling mouths charging forward, numbering in a cluster of a hundred. The Bulborb blinked, hardly slowing down, charging into the fray regardless, and opened its maw.

* * *

"Originally classified as the spotty bulborb…" Olimar typed studiously, "Further research has reclassified this species as the red bulborb."

With a content sigh, Olimar closed the laptop shut, leaning back on his chair. He looked out the window onto the clearing and the sky. It was growing late, and the buzz of the energy flowing from the computer was the only sound. Aside from an odd… Sizzling sound?

Olimar blinked. He got up and out of his chair, taking the round, detached space helmet next to the chair, planting it on his head, making his way through the metal interior. He climbed through the ship, through a tube leading up, finding himself in a clear, round half-sphere glass. He peered through, pushing outwards and up, pushing the glass off with a hiss. Quickly, he leapt out, the glass slamming shut behind him.

"Be mindful to preserve your air! I'm not running a charity here!" A voice boomed.

Turning back to the ship, Olimar rolled his eyes, nodding. The nosecone of the ship, a horn of sorts protruding outwards, seemed to hum with a pleased demeanor. Olimar sniffed using his large, round nose, then found what appeared to be the source of the sizzle and the scent.

The bulborb that had previously chased the others was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a party of Pikmin were gathered around a fire pit, graciously taking from a roasted… thing, covered in strips of bacon, with the scent of lime coming off of the meal. Standing next to the spit, rotating the meal, was a tall man, at least for the miniature size of the current creatures, garbed in a space suit similar to Olimar's, only blue. The man turned around to Olimar, waving boredly. He pointed towards the food.

"Louie, where did you…?" Olimar asked.

Louie picked up a red cap, speckled with white dots on it, the pieces roasted as well. Olimar blinked, staring at the scene, then frowned, shaking his head. The Pikmin on the other hand seemed quite pleased with their meals, nibbling on the meat, some placing down their meals under the three-legged objects. A light extending from underneath graciously absorbed the meals, then returned the favor, shooting colored seeds out of their flowering tops.

Olimar slowly switched to a smile. Here his companion, Louie, was serving food like a master chef to an army of grateful plants. He was about to say something, but glanced up at the sky. He blinked. The sun was dropping. Frowning, he looked to each and every one of the Pikmin. At first, they did not notice the droopy, bright orb in the sky. A whistle however, alerted them all. Quickly, the scrambled, some carrying leftover steaks with them. They hustled up, finishing the last of their meal, up the legs of the strange objects. Holes meant for the legs served as entrances for the Pikmin, which they gladly took, returning to their homes. Olimar stared at Louie, who frowned in response, quickly shaving two pieces off of the smoking remnants of the beast, making his way over to meet Olimar.

"Hurry up! Time's a wastin'!" The ship called.

The two spacemen stood in front of the ship. The top of the ship leaned back in a way, allowing a hole in the top of the ship to pop out. In a flash of light, the two were "beamed" into the ship, landing in the glass cockpits.

Olimar blinked, taking off his helmet with a sigh. A steak fell in front of him. He blinked again. A knocking on the other side of the ship was heard. Looking straight ahead, Louie seemed to be excitably pointing down towards the food. Olimar frowned, tilting his head. Louie's next expression was that of a, "Just taste it!" type.

Olimar stared down at the steak worriedly. He picked it up, slowly bringing it up to his mouth, and chewed. Moist, roasted, tasted decent. He nodded over to Louie, who seemed to be writing something down in his cockpit.

"...to ensure a magnificently moist haunch." He wrote, then added, "First recipe a success!" underneath.

Turning back up to Olimar across from him, he gave him a thumbs-up, which Olimar nodded at. With all that said and done, the two's ship and the objects, resembling onions flying behind them, took off into space, suspending themselves high above the atmosphere, awaiting the next day patiently.

* * *

AN: I wanted a descriptive, adventurous version of the Piklopedia. So, here you go! I might split up the Olimar and Louie notes if I decide to make this a story I'd continue.

But in the meantime, thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to find some steak, see you.


	2. Dwarf Bulborb Bisques!

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Dwarf Bulborb Bisques, A Flavorful, Piping Hot Meal!**

Louie stared down at a nearly blank list, the only pages truly filled out were the first one, a drawing of Louie himself with a chef hat sketched haphazardly on top standing in front of a large counter and sign labeled, "The Insect Gourmet". He sighed. When he returned to Hocotate, he would have a show, be famous, but most importantly, show Hocotations the joys and wonders of the ingredients and meals at their disposal, and the foreign but scrumptious tastes this planet had to offer.

In reality, he was still just a spaceman wandering around the huge plains of an unknown planet. Shuffling through the dirt, accompanied only by a trio of Pikmin, he wandered aimlessly, weaving around huge trees and sticks. Olimar had gone off, told him to help harvest for the Pikmin's benefits as to stabilize their population numbers. Louie on the other hand was too busy reflecting on his cooking skills, and to that extent, his stomach, which was far from empty. The idea of food however made his stomach growl almost on a whim.

The three Pikmin following behind him paused, noticing the noise. One of the larger, purple, whiskered of the bunch walked forward curiously, staring at Louie with its large eyes. Louie blinked, shaking his head. If he wanted lunch, he would have to work for it. Fortunately for Louie, that was precisely how the Pikmin system functioned: Find food, take it home. So, Louie, with a refreshed mind and an eager palate, set off quickly through the underbrush of the forest.

The Purple Pikmin blinked, slowly following after him. Two flashes of white sped past it, almost leaving the purple plant organism in the dust. Two skinny, white Pikmin with eyes stained a pink-red dashed ahead, attempting to follow Louie through a bush. A squeak of protest caught the attention of their non-visible ears behind them. Turning around quickly, they noticed the Purple Pikmin stumbling about, attempting to catch up, albeit very slowly. The White Pikmin shook their heads, running back behind their purple cousin, pushing the slower one with a great force, grunting with a bit of an effort. The three Pikmin made haste in their movements, skedaddling through the bushel. The low visibility caused by the leaves proved to be a worthy adversary however, resulting in the Pikmin stumbling, tripping, and rolling (in that specific order mind you) down through the bush.

The three of them smashed into the dirt. Dazely standing up, Louie glanced at them, making a shush gesture with his mouth. The three Pikmin shook their heads, simultaneously, which happened to result in the purple individual knocking the other ones over like miniscule bowling pins. They picked themselves up, bickering like agitated, miniscule bowling pins as a result. Despite Louie's caution, he was not particularly alert. The main tip to that being that he was scribbling rapidly in his list of notes.

Louie occasionally glanced up from his budding list of recipes up ahead of him. In a clearing opposite to them, a collection of what appeared to be Bulborbs shuffled about, sniffing the ground. However, these were miniature in stature, shorter than Louie even. Louie vaguely recalled; these were Dwarf Red Bulborbs, smaller yet similar to their larger counterparts. In one of Olimar's research lectures, Louie vaguely remembered something about them actually being related to "bread" or something. He and the Pikmin around him during the time had dozed off, but now he was filled with a new drive.

Food and taste related theories dance about his head. Mainly, "How do they taste?". Glances at the small beasts had Louie think. These creatures were too small for any substantial steaks, and the taste could be much different than the normal, succulent beast that towered over the spacemen and Pikmin. For the sake of the food culture and his ever curious tastes, Louie slowly approached the creatures as they sniffed the ground.

The White Pikmin appeared somewhat mortified at Louie's daring behavior, only watching as he snuck up on the dozens of Dwarf Red Bulborbs who gathered in front. The Purple Pikmin, instead of standing by shivering, followed Louie, ever cautious in case of an accident. The two whites glanced at each other worriedly. With a frown concealed by their distinct lack of mouths, they ventured forward, ducking behind the Purple Pikmin as it walked in hopes of taking shelter in case things went awry.

Louie sidestepped around one of the miniature bulborbs, clearing his throat. Nodding towards the Purple Pikmin, he gestured a punch with one fist, onto the open palm of his other hand. The Purple Pikmin blinked, nodding, then walked over towards Louie. Louie pointed towards the Bulborb he stood behind repeatedly. Still, the Purple Pikmin did not quite understand what he was getting at, giving him odd stares and shaking its head. Louie resisted the urge to groan in exasperation for fear of his potential lunch turning the tables on him and the Pikmin. Behind the purple organism, the ones bleached of color poked their heads out. Louie arched an eyebrow.

The two White Pikmin pretended to throw something. When Louie's confused stared did not let up, one of the White Pikmin sighed, grabbing the other by its antenna, flinging its friend with its own might, who landed farther away safely, returning back like a boomerang that used legs.

Louie understood. He picked up the Purple Pikmin, which felt somewhat like a heavy frying pan in his opinion, and flung it overhead. The Purple Pikmin seemed to hover above the Bulborb for a second, then came down, crashing into the creature, knocking the wind out of it in an instant. The Bulborb made a sound akin to the air hissing out of a tire, then squeaked weakly, falling down on the ground in a toppled heap. Louie grinned happily at the prospect, then pointed towards the defeated cretin.

The Pikmin just stared at Louie again. A bead of sweat dripping down his face, he started humming, making a sound like a trumpet, wondering how he would explain to the Pikmin what he wanted done. As if on order, the Pikmin then assembled, reaching for the defeated enemy, picking it up using their little hands. They hoisted it upwards, then began walking in synchronized formation, back towards the spaceship.

Louie grinned gleefully, the Pikmin were quite handy. Despite his earlier protests, he was quite glad to see them working in formation, all for the sake of food, like he did. It was almost gratifying. However, a new challenge arose in his mind. How would he get past the rest of the Bulborbs?

He looked around carefully. Strangely, the clearing was… Clear of threats. All of the other Bulborbs were gone. Louie quickly searched around the forest. Nothing in sight except for bushes and trees. Satisfied, Louie marched alongside the Pikmin. He paused. A growling noise was brought to his attention. Assuming it was his stomach, he pat his spacesuit, and continued on. Another growl. Louie gulped, it came directly from behind him this time. Turning around carefully, his eyes expanded and he began sweating. Now he knew why the Dwarf Bulborbs had fled. Or at least, "momentarily retreated".

Swiftly, Louie cleared his throat, approached the working Pikmin, and added his hands underneath the Pikmin's. Confused, the little soldiers turned around. Soon after, together, the four of them hustled back with the deceased Bulborb, stomps and shadows signaling that there were at least fifty more coming, including a behemoth.

* * *

Hours had passed. A collection of Bulborbs laying down, a big, regular Red Bulborb retreating over the horizon had been collected and stacked in a pile next to the Onions and the ship. Louie sat next to the metal tin can he and Olimar used, a tired looking Olimar standing nearby, counting all of the corpses as the Pikmin joyfully hummed, bringing the deceased carnivores back to their homes for food.

While Olimar tiredly counted over and over, Louie and his small squad of three enjoyed sipping out of a mahogany bowl, filled with a saucy red liquid blissfully mixed with a white cream and a collection of red, white polka-dotted morsels sticking out.

Louie wrote while he and the other gobbled down the meal, one of his arms retracted into his suit, equipped with a ladle while he balanced the bowl in his lap, writing with his right, the Pikmin sipping from the bowl as well. "For a blissful bisque, mince the entire beast finely and stir in with heavy cream," He chewed momentarily, "Artichoke hearts, and a pinch-"

One of the Pikmin working hard on feeding its Onion sneezed suddenly, frightening others passing by.

"A pinch of black pepper." Louie wrote, "Heat slowly until piping hot. Mmmmm… Rich and creamy!"

Next to him, Olimar wiped the nonexistent sweat off of his helmet, staring at the amassed pile of food that the Pikmin gladly carried. He briefly reflected on his own efforts to add.

Speaking of which, two Pikmin carried a solitary pellet of sorts, colored yellow with a number one curiously imprinted on the top.

" _What would I do without you, Louie."_ Olimar thought.

A crash was heard. Olimar blinked, spinning around quickly. Louie's space helmet seemed to have "bisque" spilled on it. When the Pikmin attempted to wipe it off, the could only feel the glass. Louie sipped some of the liquid off of the inside of his helmet, giving a thumbs-up to anyone who might be watching.

Olimar briefly pondered whether or not he wanted to retract that statement.

* * *

AN: Goodness, I have a bit on my plate. And it isn't bisque, let me tell you, I'll be honest, I'll be updating this story irregularly as I have a few others that I need getting done as well. But I'll be sure to update it as long as I keep playing the game, as I'm playing Pikmin 2 side-by-side as I'm writing to make sure I get the Piklopedia and Treasure Hoard details correct.

But before I go, I'd like to thank those who reviewed! Thanks Piston24 and Nyxy of ZeroFoxGiven for reviewing! I want to thank both of you… For liking this story. Seems a bit trivial, but with the amount of work on my plate, (there it is again) it helps to know people enjoy the content I put out!

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to toss Pikpik carrots in the Piklopedia, see you.


	3. Eye for Treasure

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Before we get started with the new chapter, may I say that this story…**

 **Has been brought to you by Hocotate Freight and Co.! The most reliable Hocotatian delivery service this side of the universe, now excavating exotic nick-nacks!**

 **Ah, right, ahem, this chapter is called:**

 **An Eye for Treasure**

 **Enjoy!**

The ship sighed electronically, which really was not too different from a normal sigh passing through an electric fan. The ship, as it was referred to by Olimar and Louie could be considered remarkable, it was intellectual, it had a personality, and it had a great drive and voice that could be used to sell many things if put to good use. However, its "day job" as the ship referred to it as was less than stellar. Simply house the Purple and White Pikmin as well as collect treasure salvaged by the Pikmin. Other than that and flying, the ship felt somewhat bored.

Though, it was rather amusing watching Olimar and Louie stumble about attempting to run away from the deadly creatures of this planet.

But nevertheless, the ship was bored. He was convinced that he was one of the most unlucky ships in existence. That was until he remembered why he was here to begin with.

The group of Hocotatians, sentient ship cones, and the ever busy bodies known as Pikmin were deep within a cave of sorts. The walls were dark, as was the ceiling, though a special component added to the suits and the ship allowed for light to flow even in the pit of darkness that was buried so far off from the sun's rays bathing the surface. The Pikmin were humming to and fro, picking up dead creatures that had fallen in battle, offering them to the ship.

The ship shivered. Truth be told, the work habits and behavior of the Pikmin was fascinating, but it could hardly care for the revolting carcasses of the Pikmins' enemies. They hardly even fetched a price, something he could discover with his expertise, but Olimar insisted that the ship stop complaining and just store the dead bodies.

As such, the ship reluctantly suctioned up the recently deceased, automatically appraising the prices of said bugs and other abhorrent evils that plagued the planet.

"One poko… One poko…" It counted with a sigh after the other.

After a few boring creatures were scavenged, the ship considered retreating into a sleep mode of sorts. All of a sudden, something caught the attention of its sensors. The ship, if it had eyes, would probably have blinked rapidly when it found that a troop of Red Pikmin were trudging along, carrying a shiny material. The ship whirred excitably, which unnerved the Pikmin slightly, but decided to press on regardless, bringing the shiny object in question forward. As it was placed under the ship, the analysis was completed as soon as the curious treasure was retrieved.

Yellow lid. White, short, cylindrical shape. Alien language was written on the top of the can, but for now, the ship was ecstatic. Already it was scanning the contents, brewing up a name in seconds:

"Healing Cask." Its voice echoed throughout the caverns.

The ship was extremely pleased with itself. A shiny object, totalled at a solid sixty pokos, was now in the ship's hoard. The weary Pikmin beneath the ship complete with their job dropped down and hit the dirt, sighing ever wearily. However, a weak whistle snapped them out of their doldrums, the fatigued plant people getting to their feet, making their way through the caves. The ship, no longer detecting anything of value, followed them, providing a source of light as they travelled. Weaving through the caverns, the ship found itself meeting the space employees, Olimar and Louie accompanied by a battalion of Pikmin, staring up at a geyser erupting in the earth. Water spewed out at a tremendous rate, the drops of water soothing the tired Pikmin regardless of their resistance to the fluid.

Two tired Hocotatians stared up at the geyser shooting into the sky. Olimar reached his hand out carefully as if to gauge its pressure. All of a sudden, his hand was caught in the water, the pressure carrying him up and away. Louie blinked. He immediately jumped in the fountain of water after him, the Pikmin glancing at one another with an uncertainty. Nevertheless, they all decided to follow, hopping into the water, screaming not with fear, but for the pure thrill factor. The ship's nose cone, had it had eyes they would have rolled, followed them up as they left the cage.

* * *

Olimar, Louie, and the Pikmin accompanying them shot out of a hole in the dirt, up into the stratosphere. Floating above the world, they fell, landing safely by the comforts of the ship and the Onions surrounding them, suffering no broken limbs of the sorts, oddly enough. The ship's nose cone hovered above them, reattaching itself to its rightful spot on top of the spaceship, screwing itself in as if it was a bottlecap. As the Pikmin and the captains reorientated themselves outside, the ship began brewing up ideas.

For some reason, despite the language barriers, the "Healing Cask" just oozed medicinal assistance. It was comforting, almost safe to keep it around.

The ship cleared its biologically missing throat and began a description. "A dependable item in crucial times, stay safe by keeping one at home and one at the office. It is indispensable! If you are health conscious, buy this!"

The space-faring vessel was glad. Satisfied, it stored this treasure with all the other goodies this planet had, and, almost self-consciously, felt more secure with the treasure. He was good at his job, he concluded.

Meanwhile, a group of space captains and Pikmin laid out on the ground, dazed, some injured, a few groaning from the battles, their tiredness, and the overall discomfort they now felt from the journey.

* * *

AN: Short little ship chapter, it might be a bit more difficult to write much action for a few of the treasures so they might stay as smaller chapters for now.

Thanks Piston24 and fairy of the lily for reviewing! Perhaps it's Louie's charm Piston24? He tends to be a rather suave customer as far as Hocotatians go. fairy of the lily, thanks, I'll be sure to speed things up a bit.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, always keep a can of Healing Cask by you. See you.


	4. Dweevils and a Metal Menace

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Dweevils and a Metal Menace  
**

"Dweevils are… Hmm…" Olimar muttered, staring down at a digital notepad.

Using a digital stylus, he tapped the pad repeatedly as if he were a student that lacked the answer to a test question. Tapping again and again in the darkness of the cave, he needed a good description of the dweevil species. Dweevils were spindly creatures, of different color similar to the color of Pikmin. As such, they have corresponding elements that match up with their color; red dweevils are capable of generating hot gases, blue dweevils can release fluids that can suffocate prey, and so on and so forth. However, a description to match the entire species proved difficult.

The cave itself was as ordinary as it came, except for the high dweevil population. Hundreds could be scanned from the surface, or at least he took the ship's word for it, as it shivered each time it tried to count. They scrambled all over the place, matching all of the colors of the dweevil spectrum. Olimar cringed as he noticed one very specific dweevil. The thing marched along, looking similar to a rock. All of a sudden, the rock-like exterior began glowing. In a simple explosion, the dweevil was gone.

They were certainly a very unique species. They had elemental prowess, variety, and could even pick up objects in a fashion that seemed as if they were imitating them. Certainly forces to be reckoned with.

Also quite the annoyance to poor Louie. The captain in blue ran with a battalion of Pikmin in tow, dodging the explosive dweevil species as they trampled on after them. They chased after poor Louie until their expiration date had finally reached them, blowing up in a simultaneous effort, their pink souls drifting off into the air. Louie and the Pikmin accompanying him took the time to relax, sitting by the rock walls. They were quickly rustled, the entire group rushing away to avoid another set of dweevils chasing after them.

For the life of him, he did not know whether to summarize the entire species or catalogue them. Truth be told, he felt rather drained as of late, and may have gone with the former. They were unique as a species, but they retained very similar behaviors, except for the Volatile Dweevil which he had just named on account of their bombastic personality.

A handful of Pikmin groaned, not of weariness nor pain, but out of custom of booing any and all puns as it goes in life. Payback came back flying in as a purple colored dweevil stomped in and released toxic fumes, sending every Pikmin that had no resistance to the painful gases packing. Louie did his best, whistling as if his life depended on it, curing the Pikmin of their coughing fits.

Now Olimar was getting frustrated. The high-pitched frequencies going off in the distance were just making him that much more annoyed. Turning over towards the open space that was the rest of the cave, he initially began to shout, but upon noticing Louie attempting to take revenge on one of the yellow arachnid creatures, he sprung into action, ditching the notepad, whistling towards the Pikmin less suited to electric shocks. Upon hearing the more familiar, experience captain's whistle, the Pikmin started making a run for it, narrowly avoiding the deadly zap. Louie blinked, following closely behind.

They all regrouped over at the area of the cave the ship's nose cone dwelled in, all of them panting heavily from the chase. Olimar and Louie caught their breaths quickly enough, the both of them turning around. Already, the dweevils that Louie had scuffled with were capitalizing on their failure to remain calm, carrying away a load of fantastical treasures, the spider-like creatures retreating through a crevice sprouting out of the ground, though with much difficulty squeezing through some of the materials. Everyone present remained silent, though the propeller that allowed the ship to hover made a constant whirring noise.

Other than that, silence. But, considering the highlight of the ship's day was naming treasures, seeing the lot of them retreat down a hole was less than pleasant.

"What are you two waiting for?! Go get those back! We have bills to pay, you know!" The ship announced.

Louie shivered. The ship was not wrong, but he disliked the idea of retrieving the treasures with a whole mass of dweevil adversaries hot on their tails was unsatisfactory, to say the least. Olimar on the other hand, felt a sort of guilt. While he felt that the screeching lecture was less than necessary, he agreed. There was so much to glean from the treasures, whether it was monetarily or for research, Olimar did need to have those treasures.

So he started running. Louie's eyes grew wide. A few of the Pikmin followed Louie's example; some of the Pikmin huddled together, shivering, a few covering their eyes with their stems and tiny hands. All of a sudden, a lone Pikmin separated itself from the mass. A purple one, no less, walked out of the bunch, and started after Olimar, its flower bud bobbing up and down. A few of its peers whispered in their squeak-language, presumably pointing out that the mental state of the one who left was less than normal. Surprisingly, two more Pikmin broke out from the mass, a pair of White Pikmin, following after their purple cousin reluctantly.

Louie noticed the trio depart down the hole with Olimar. He felt a few leaves brush against him. Then flower buds. Then flowers. The horde of Pikmin he had accompanying him made their way to assist Olimar, pouring down the hole like a stream. Louie stayed and stared. It was amazing. The odds were stacked against them, and yet the little soldiers willingly strode forward as if it were the last day of their lives, which it may very well be. The space employee felt a strange sense of pride and fear.

A tugging sensation was the next thing he felt, which at first he assumed was his gut tightening. Realizing it was coming from behind, Louie turned around, noticing a solitary Blue Pikmin holding onto a digital notepad and a stylus.

" _This must be Olimar's."_ Louie thought to himself.

Sooner or later, one of the parties would win out victorious. Louie would not know right away, as he stayed underneath the glow of the ship. It was safer on this floor of the cave; the dweevils had abandoned it in favor of a lavish, Pikmin-free apartment, so to speak. If they won, it would be a simple case of, "Return to the ship, deposit treasure, get paid". However, if they lost…

His stomach hurt. It was not a hurt that of gorging oneself, or of eating something technically inedible, (which Louie had issues with constantly on this planet) but that of nervousness. Olimar led them to victory plenty of times. He even got to go to that tournament… Thingy. Something like "Super Crash Bros." or something along those lines, Louie could not remember. Though, for a while now, Louie worried and worried. For the first time in a long time, Louie shoved the thoughts of food and fear to the side.

Louie glanced over at the Blue Pikmin. It had placed Olimar's belongings in the light leading up into the ship, the pad hovering up into the cone's storage space. The ship buzzed curiously, apparently scanning the contents.

"I'm a space vessel, not a storage garage." If there was an audio equivalent to a frown, that was the noise the ship was making, "...Though I suppose I can hold on to this."

The Blue Pikmin's eyes lit up in delight. It soon began sprinting off towards the crater in the ground, leaving Louie behind. The blue captain sighed. Very much a "do or die" moment, Louie took the "do" option, very well considering he could "die" in the process. Following the Pikmin, Louie hopped down the hole, descending into the cave further. The ship shook its conical head, and followed after them, leaving the previous floor dark and empty as it continued onwards.

The next floor was certainly not what Louie was expecting, both he and the Blue Pikmin were taken off guard. A large metallic platform that could serve as the next floor stretched out in front of them. Bracing for impact, the landing reverberated throughout the entire platform with a resounding clang, the two simultaneously rubbing the backs of their heads.

A whistling noise caught their attention. Turning towards the side, they noticed a few piles of shriveled up dweevils and a mound of treasure. The pair of blue clad characters sighed in relief, making their way over to the others. Perhaps their help was unnecessary. Though, what happened next might have changed their minds. With the added bonus of scaring them half to death.

Olimar noticed a glint. His eyes traced back towards a metallic crater of sorts. In the middle of it all, a round orb with a bronze sheen. Pipes stuck out of the top, creating smoke and steam. With his battalion of Pikmin at the ready, Olimar approached the shiny object, cautious as always. As he approached it, he had expected something to drop down on him or blindside him to prevent him from taking the treasure, but was thrown for a loop when the legs of the sphere extended.

A dweevil, a round body with skinny, metallic limbs hoisting it up popped out of the ground, steaming using its pipes. Olimar and Louie gasped. Instinctively, Olimar called the Pikmin back, expecting the arachnorb to lash out using its appendages. Which it did, in a terrifying manner. Extending from below, a gun lashed out, with a laser sight aiming towards the group of Pikmin. Now it was Olimar's turn to be afraid. Bullets, like bursts of light, fired out of the gun with a rapid pace, making distinct ricochet noises as it did.

The main captain ran, his colorful compadres following him as they sprinted for cover. Unfortunately, a few of the unlucky red, yellow, and blue of the bunch were caught in the fire, peppered with large bullets, perishing on the spot. Those who escaped continued running for some time, until they realized that the gunfire had stopped. Looking back towards the armed arachnorb, they noticed that the gun barrel was smoking considerably, and that the laser sight could not reach them. They panted, believing they were safe.

The dweevil, despite its stocky appearance, soon proved that it could move. Striding across towards them with time to spare, Olimar found that it had towered over them in a manner of seconds. The gun aimed again. This time, the captain hurled Pikmin left and right, launching them at the machine. As it fired, a few were knocked off, their poor souls leaving for a better place. Others clung desperately, smacking it left and right. Despite his efforts, Olimar could not keep up the charade for long. His arms were tiring, and the Pikmin numbers were thinning.

As he thought, a stray bullet bounced towards the captain. Olimar blinked, only just realizing the projectile. He leaped to the side, barely escaping the bullet. All while this was happening the enemy spider could shake off the Pikmin with little to no effort. Things looked grim; Olimar could hardly whistle and throw at the same time, and at the rate the metal monstrosity was tearing through the ranks of Pikmin, it seemed like he might have to try.

His fears were displaced with a whistle. A lower pitched, almost honking sound caught his attention. As well as a handful of the Pikmin. Louie, in all of his awkward employee glory, began hurling the Pikmin that had ventured towards him, including his blue friend. The gun swiveled from Olimar's group to Louie now, already charging up another barrage. If ever a chance appeared, this was the time, and Olimar could not resist the offer. One Purple Pikmin stumbled up next to Olimar, with his paler white companions ready as well.

The arachnorb's weapon aimed. So did Olimar and Louie. With the flash of the muzzle, Olimar and Louie directed their own attack, their Pikmin crying out as they flew, ready to fight.

The battle ended with the clunk of purple and the onslaught of blue.

* * *

Olimar sat outside in the afternoon sun under the ship, writing away. The scent of Louie's cooking and the cheers of Pikmin in the background, combined with the sizzling of griddles and pots was tempting, but he needed to finish his writing first.

"...the mechanical portions of its structure appear to automatically acquire and attack targets." He sighed, scribbling a decent representation of a gun firing.

The entire experience was less than happy. Lots of Pikmin were lost. The treasure was excavated, but at the cost of days of work to stabilize the plant people population. And yet…

There they were. The survivors of the ordeal happily going about, lining up for seconds and thirds of Louie's cooking. They moved on now. What happened had happened, and that was an unshakable fact. But as if it were a bad dream, they shrugged it off, returning to Onions with bountiful food, creating a new generation for the future despite the attack. It was inspiring, really.

Olimar sighed. The sun was still up in the sky, but he felt exhausted. Glancing over to Louie, who stood over a pot, the two exchanged looks for a second, then nodded. The experienced captain starting dozing off, though he could rest easy, knowing that Louie was at least around to keep things… Stable.

Louie on the other hand was writing himself. A metal piece of flesh floated on the surface of the pot, staining the brew black.

"Although the meat is a bit on the-" Louie chewed, hearing a huge crunch go off in his mouth, "metallic side, the oil makes a mouthwatering gravy or lubricative vinaigrette."

While he may smell like the inside of a car for a few hours, Louie would rest easy knowing one simple fact.

That he successfully cooked and ate a machine. And it was GOOD.

And he was able to help his co-worker out, of course.

* * *

AN: That Man-at-Legs boss, bullets sounding like they came out of a western cartoon with speed to match. Goodness me.

Thanks Piston24 for reviewing! Sounds like a plan, I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, make sure to always give your Pikmin bullet-proof vests before leaving the home. See you.


	5. Oversized Snacks

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Oversized Snacks for Little Pikmin**

Akin to a dot of red on a wooden pallet, the Red Pikmin resting on a tree branch had hardly a care in the world. He had been through it all. Generations of Pikmin came and gone in a blink of the eye. From Olimar's first crash landing on this planet to the day he returned, he was there. At least, he thought so, his memory was hardly good. But that was what the captains were for, Olimar and Louie did an exceptional job assisting both him and his people. And for that, he was forever thankful.

The added perks of getting to see some of the treasure up close and personal was certainly a wonderful part of his job. Every so often, after a successful romp through a cavern, the entire troop would come home with a treasure either extremely beautiful or one with an irresistible aroma. The Red Pikmin would always warm up to the hum of the strange being that seemed to absorb the treasures, and the strange mumbling of it after it had taken the treasure.

But sometimes after a collectible was indeed collected, the Pikmin had a chance to get an up-close-and-personal look at the shiny sheens, to be able to finally "bite into the fruits of their labor", if you will. Right now, this Red Pikmin oversaw the events taking place from his high perch, looking down on the rest of its brethren as they shuffled restlessly, flower buds and leaves waving wildly in excitement. Gathering around the ship, they noticed a handful of purples carry the intriguing object towards the middle, in between the ship and the Onions surrounding it.

The object in question was bizarre. A yellow orb suspended in an ooze of white. Now, while the Pikmin had seen eggs before, the shape of this specific one was strange. Flat like a pancake, though Pikmin seldom ever consumed pancakes. But the aroma- The tantalizing smell coming off of the "unknown" substance was captivating. Curiously, one of the Pikmin among the group walked out, retrieved a sizable portion of white, stared at it, then took a nibble. Humming in delight, soon it took another piece, then began digging into the meal-sized snack. Soon enough, the troupe of Pikmin starting filing in, the finding vanishing almost as soon as it was presented.

The Red Pikmin suspended on a branch grew interested in the group's activities. Walking over to the trunk of the tree, he hugged the bark wall and slid down. Having reached the bottom, he sprinted towards the site of the excitement. Eventually reaching his peers, there was more shuffling until at the center of the group laid a new object of interest. A swirl in shape, it seemed somewhat like a fossil. An excitable yellow got to the "food" first and took a bite. It was also similar to a fossil in its solid, hardly edible nature! Frowning with a mouth invisible, the Yellow Pikmin whose mouth was offended kicked the rock, a few fragments falling to the ground. Just as it was about to storm off, a Blue Pikmin walked up next, picking up one of the pieces.

Curiously, it felt softer in his hands now, almost like dirt the way it disintegrated into smaller pieces. Taking an experimental chomp of sorts, the Blue Pikmin's eyes lit up. It was sweet, with a plain but inviting, smooth taste to it. Chattering to a few other Pikmin, the blue whose palate was perfected by this mystery rock started for the strange delicacy. Across the crowd, the Red Pikmin from earlier desperately attempted to try, but within a few seconds, all that was left was dust blowing in the wind. This crimson cavalier of the Pikmin sighed.

Finally, the squad responsible for bringing these tantalizing treats rolled over a large, hoop-like object. White dust of sorts coated the top of the wheel. The Pikmin pushing it along could feel its softness despite its size, and were licking up the powder off their small hands. Unfortunately for our red friend, his colleagues had advanced on the hoop without hesitation, digging into the soft, sugary, dough of the food. Try as it might, the Red Pikmin from the tree attempted to dash to even taste a bite of the ginormous confectionary, but to no avail. With a sigh, the rosy radish-like creature walked off, rubbing its stomach sadly.

* * *

Olimar and Louie woke up swimmingly, departing from their bunks with stretches, ready to start the day. As they were equipping their spacesuits however-

"ALERT! Treasure Hoard compromised!" The ship's screeching voice rang out.

Blinking, the two captains began rapidly dressing, placing their glass bowl space helmets on almost haphazardly, the only thing preventing themselves from bolting out being the caution of running out of air. Making their way through a short mechanical hall, they popped out from the ship via the opening of its nosecone and set foot on the dirt of this distant planet, freezing in surprise.

On the ground, dozens of Pikmin laid moaning. However, the pain was hardly from battle wounds. Most of the Pikmin clutched their stomach, gazing at the sky tiredly. A terrifying thought ran through both of the captains' minds, though for different reasons. Olimar had initially thought some sort of new enemy had laid siege to them as they had touched down on the planet. Louie and the ship however, knew the truth.

"The Pastry Wheel, Compelling Cookie, and Hideous Victual are missing! And the culprits responsible-" The ship began.

All of a sudden, Louie began running around wildly, terror etched on his face. The very thought of food being pilfered had set him off, causing the employee of Hocotate Freight to go mad for the moment. Another groan caught Olimar's ears. Turning towards a large oak across the landing site of the Onions and ship, a solitary Red Pikmin laid in a tree, gazing wistfully over at the Pikmin currently suffering from sad stomachs. Olimar walked across, minding the sickly sprouts laying on the ground, and whistled. The Red Pikmin, albeit slowly, slid down the tree and met Olimar.

A growling noise caught his attention the moment the red had gotten close. Fearing an attack by an organism, Olimar spun around in all directions, finding nothing but a panicking Louie. The noise came again, only this time it was right by his side. Glancing over at his only troop, he noticed this Pikmin clutching its stomach, sighing forlornly. The situation at hand suddenly grew in a hilarity. With a chuckle, Olimar gestured towards the Pikmin, with a smile. Leading the Pikmin away across the field of moans on the ground, he set off to prepare breakfast, for him and his hungry friend.

* * *

AN: Those treasures in Pikmin are delectable looking sometimes, man. The Insect Condo was a bit unappealing for an obvious reason, though…

Thanks Piston24 for reviewing! I appreciate that, really thought the Man-at-Legs was a force to be reckoned with, so I'm glad I managed to get it down.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to restrain myself from ordering too much food. See you.


	6. Bready Buggies

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Bready Buggies**

It took a significant amount of time for the food coma that had passed over the Pikmin population to wear off. When a sizable squad amount stopped clutching their stomachs mournfully, Olimar had decided it was time to set out. The funny thing was, most of them were yellow, colored like the contents of an egg, but despite Olimar's hypothesis that Yellow Pikmin may have had stomachs better suited to higher altitudes and therefore recovered quickly, it was just that their scarlet and violet cousins tended to consume larger portions of food.

That being said, in order to make the quota for treasure that Olimar and Louie came for, they would need to replenish the foodie delights that they had lost due to their Pikmin companions completely destroying nearly half of the alien food supply. Having descended into yet another hole later on, they were pleasant surprised to find instead of a dank cave submerged in the recesses of the earth, it was…

A giant's room?

There was a wooden floor and colorful blocks scattered everywhere. The logic behind how they managed to find themselves in that room from falling from the top of the ceiling via hole was bewildering, but nevertheless, time was money so to speak. The troop ventured out, searching to and fro throughout the room. Eventually deciding that a separate group could prove more fruitful, the two split up into two squads of Pikmin, the two leading yellow flower buds across the comfortable landscape.

While Olimar was off searching through a handful of bizarre train tracks made of wood, Louie led his squadron slowly but surely through the odd palace of wood. While Olimar needed to find the treasures again, all Louie was worried about was, give the man a prize if you guessed right, his empty stomach. Plus, each of the growls were unsettling to say the least to the Pikmin following behind. The space employee sighed. However, lucky for Louie, it seemed that there was food just around the corner. Footsteps sounded off, sounded somewhat sticky in nature. Not too picky on his meals, Louie smirked, beckoning the Pikmin behind him to come and hide from the imposing threat, which they followed through gladly.

As if he were a hunter awaiting the prey about to spring a trap, Louie rubbed his gloved hands together sinisterly with a laugh to boot, some of the Pikmin behind him giving each other questionable looks. Hearing the footsteps ever so closely, Louie rolled out, holding one Yellow Pikmin, ready to strike.

He deadpan expression was the definitive result of the encounter as a bizarre creature waddled by. Setting the carrot person down, Louie glanced at the odd animal bumbling about. Something akin to a bread roll on tiny legs waddled by, sniffing at the air occasionally. To say that Louie was bewildered was an understatement, as he found himself questioning his sanity for a moment.

But nonetheless, food was food. So, sneaking up behind the bread monster, he called forth the might of his Pikmin armada. Fifty yellow ant-like troopers crawled out behind him, eventually breaking into a jog, and began laying siege to the creature. However, their efforts were apparently in vain, as each blow seemed to reflect off of the creature, which ignored the fact that tiny organisms were attempting to beat it down. Louie scowled at the creature, attempting to formulate a plan, but that path of reasoning practically shattered upon noticing what the creature was doing next.

A new meal, a egg cooked to perfection left on the floor was being dragged. That bug, made of bread… Breadbug, was already making away with the meal. Now Louie was steaming. Who would have the gall to steal food so shamelessly?

* * *

Meanwhile in Pikmin 3.

"That Hocotatian stole our juice rations!" A boy in a blue spacesuit cried out as Louie made away with containers of the delectable substances.

* * *

Despite the irony that would set in a few years later, Louie hardly cared, for the moment, all that mattered was retrieving the food. With a whistle, he recalled his Pikmin troop, and reordered them to steal back the delightful dish. They obeyed, and swiftly deployed themselves to take the meaty stuff that was the flat frisbee of eggs being carried away. With a combined effort, the yellows started dragging away the egg from the Breadbug animal, which in turn dragged across the ground as it tried retrieving it. Despite the tide of battle seemingly on their side, it went sour quickly when Louie discovered a revelation in their species.

When there is one, there are more, to be frank.

Similar to the Pikmin themselves, the Breadbug species was hardly solitary. All of a sudden, more of the greedy gluttons joined in, and the fight for the egg became a tug-of-war, Breadbug against Pikmin. Louie frowned, worriedly glancing from organism to organism. Suddenly, he had a spark of an idea flash in his mind. Taking a handful of Pikmin, he tossed them through the air, the yellows spinning up above for a moment before fluttering down, smacking into the backs of the opposing side. With a surprise attack, the enemies were rolled to the side, their round mouths letting go of the meal almost instantaneously. Squabbling at Louie, they were disappointed to find that their supply of food had been taken away from them. They shuffled off, grumbling in a way incomprehensible. Celebrating over their victory, the Pikmin began humming as they wandered off, carrying the spoils of battle with them.

However, Louie felt as if there was something he needed to do. He was still a wee bit peckish. There also seemed to be a lot of Breadbugs in this location. Making up his mind, he called a few of his remainder Pikmin and began setting off, intent on bringing back a little something something for dinner.

* * *

Olimar's search was fruitless, aside from a few egg shells that contained a special flower nectar of sorts, which allowed for the Pikmin accompanying him to bloom. Aside from that though, there was no sight of any treasure. He sighed, the sound of Pikmin busying themselves along and the ship abducting something filling the silence.

"...Wait." Olimar perked up, glancing behind him.

"Another Hideous Victual secured! I'll just put this where its former spot laid in the Treasure Hoard." The ship beamed, glad that there was now something filling a space, though it mentally saved a note, making sure to keep an eye on the plant troopers.

Olimar's eyes lit up. Louie was really helping out, perhaps his impressions of him were less than satisfactory. Well, until a Yellow Pikmin close to him started panicking. The Pikmin started pointing rapidly in one direction, fear flooding its eyes. Curiously, Olimar glanced to the side, where Louie and a couple Pikmin hurriedly carried a corpse of an unknown organism and a few more treasures. Olimar smiled for a moment, then recalled the last time something like this happened.

A horde of Breadbugs followed behind them, hungrily reaching for the food with their mouths. Olimar's eyes widened as the stampede closed in.

* * *

Out in the sun, a couple Pikmin yawned as they woke up from their terrible stomach troubles, feeling better since the irresistible rush of hunger and the abundance of food presented. Glancing around, they noticed that the captains were missing and so was the nosecone of the ship. Frowning, they wondered where they went off to.

A shadow loomed over head. One of the Pikmin, a White Pikmin laid dazed on the ground beforehand, suddenly looked up, its pink eyes shrinking. It tapped one of its purple cousins on the shoulder and pointed up. Soon all of the Pikmin were staring at the sky. They all then moved out of the way. Falling from the blue, Olimar, Louie, and two squads' worth of Pikmin landed on the ground, looking roughed up. As they tried to get to their feet, the ship's nosecone dived into the pile.

"...At least we'll make a profit." The ship groaned.

* * *

AN: Flipping Breadbugs stealing food.

Uh, nevermind me, let's get to the reviews. Thanks Piston24 for reviewing once more!

Glad you thought it was funny, always wanted to see Pikmin misbehaving, silly little troops sometimes don't know what they're getting into.

But anyways, thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, remember to clean up your crumbs unless you want a bunch of small organisms laying siege to your house! See you.


	7. It's like a safari of doom!

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

" **It's Like A Safari of Doom!"**

"Hello there! Thank you for joining us, Hocotate Freight, on this wondrous commercial tour of our new amazing attraction, the Piklopedia!" The ship spoke up, being just a floating nosecone.

Behind him, a few Pikmin shuffled about. The ship hovering and the Pikmin behind the ship were out and about in the great outdoors, with the blue sky and sun illuminating each step they took, or in the ship's case, each… Propellor spin. There was a distinct lack of lifeforms that shared ship's language, and by that, it meant that there were hardly any sight of the captains around.

"After an excursion from another planet, we have collected many species for your viewing pleasure! (So long as you pay a fee first, tax not included.)" The ship spoke up.

As the ship moved, so did the platoon of Pikmin with him. A few Pikmin fumbling in the front and the back suddenly gave way to clarity. The objects they fumbled with were a camera and a boom microphone, each directed at the ship. Though, considering that every five seconds they dropped the equipment due to the fact that their hands were the size of dust particles, it was a wonder why the ship was trying.

Scowling, or… At least whatever the ship can substitute with a scowl directed towards the Pikmin, the ship hovered up close to the cameramen.

"Stop fumbling or else you won't get the scraps of food left in the hull." The ship waned the Pikmin, who quickly regained any plant posture they had, while the machine cleared its throat, "Apologies ladies and gentlemen. We are just about to embark on a journey of epic, (and educational of course) proportions. Here at Hocotate Freight, we have a selection of different organisms for view."

The wind blew past, ruffling the stems on the Pikmin heads gathered around the floating metal piece. Sighing, the ship hovered away, the Pikmin following behind curiously, making sure they kept the camera pointed at the nosecone perfectly. Eventually, the ship halted, hovering in a single spot with the Pikmin following closely behind. However, the sight they had seen had them stop and practically shiver as soon as they spotted it.

While a few of the veteran Pikmin soldiers were rather used to the sight of terrifying enemy numbers, the fact that there were a collection of Dwarf Bulborbs all clustered in one hole was chilling regardless to some of the seasoned of the bunch. They sniffed around, and some of them attempted to climb out of the hole, but gave up rather quickly, boredly sitting by. Shaking, the Pikmin in charge of the camera turned towards the ship, their frayed nerves shaking the camera somewhat.

"Now, if you will look to the side-" The ship impatiently hovered over the hole, attempting to get the plant people to zoom in on the pit, which they tried reluctantly, simply swiveling the camera, "There are a collection of those… Creatures which dwell on the planet, captured with the assistance of our native cameraman. These… Things, are capable of munching at a rate that would put a Hocotatian buffet out of business."

The ship flew away from the pit of doom, all of the Pikmin present staring at him as it disappeared in the distance. They all blinked. They were somewhat skeptical on following the cone object, as the fact that it sped off through the air at the speed of sound as if had no place to go, adding onto the trapped predators was somewhat unnerving. As they saw the ship leave, they slowly began laying down the equipment.

"Hold on!"

The electronic voice prompted them to once more set up the equipment for use for fear of losing food. The ship had hovered back, with a collection of… Oddly shaped Pikmin. At least, so they thought. In actuality, they happened to be carrots from Hocotate. Dangling the carrots around in the air as it made its way back to the hole, the Pikmin watched as it did so. The ship promptly paused over the pit filled with predators and flung the carrots in. Curious, the Pikmin "production crew" leaned in to look. They were greeted with dismembered carrot parts and the munching of said vegetables going off from within the terrible spot in the ground. The Pikmin staring downwards immediately went white from fright, though the default White Pikmin simply stared without much of a change.

"As you can see, when exposed to a potential meal, the rabid creatures of this planet immediately savagely assault the morsels they have set their eyes on. Lucky for you viewers at home; this planet is essentially a safari of doom!" The ship stated proudly, "But it's nothing our company cannot handle to bring you high quality footage!"

Having jinxed itself unknowingly, suddenly the yellow behind the camera dropped it out of fright, the recording device rolling into the ditch. Perking up at the fact that company property was being mistreated, the ship turned around, glaring at the Pikmin. Or, at least, the ground. The remaining trace of Pikmin left was a stampede of footprints and an abandoned boom microphone left in the dust.

The ship shook itself, and if it had a neck, would have been shaking its head. "I should have brought Louie."

* * *

AN: With all the sales pitches thrown about by the ship, you would think that eventually it would try to capitalize on the business opportunity, hm?

Thanks Piston24 for reviewing! I apologize for the confusing writing, I hope that this chapter was a bit more clear.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to OH GOD THE STEAM SUMMER SALES. Be back in a few hundred years after this shopping spree. As long as I don't run myself into debt.


	8. Wildfires on a Wild Planet

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

" **Wildfires" of PNF-404**

Throughout the forest, a great clamor could be heard. A battle as old as time itself ran throughout the forest, creating noise as it went. Red after yellow after blue, Pikmin of all colors made haste in escaping the beasts behind them.

Bulborbs of all shapes, colors, and sizes filed after them. Eyes ravenously scanning the ground, they bit and tore at the brush and the Pikmin, threatening to swallow them whole. Once a single Pikmin tripped, they were to be consumed, never to be seen again.

Eventually, the Pikmin came across an encampment. Sitting by the spaceship, Olimar and Louie (a tired Louie at the very least) waved the Pikmin in frantically. Never before in these Pikmins' lives have they been this terrified of the enemies behind them, nor more glad to see their captains.

Scrambling up the legs of the Onions, they made haste in finding shelter as quickly as they could possibly move their tiny legs and arms. While the Pikmin with primary colors had separate homes to escape to, the violet and paler of the bunch had to hurry for the ship's comfortable steel brig.

For the White Pikmin, it was simple. A quick sprint, a hop, and they were down through the smoke filters of the ship, down into somewhere safe and metallic. The slower of the bunch, the Purple Pikmin, had it harder. While they tried in vain to move faster and faster, terrified of the impending doom on two legs making an effort to catch them.

Olimar and Louie felt the roar of the engine as it prepared for take-off. The first captain glanced over at the purples. There was little chance they would be able to make it on their own. So, the most sensible thing to do in a situation where death is staring back at you and the easiest way to escape would be to not walk towards them is to burden yourselves with a load of heavy Pikmin as you get closer to them.

But, considering Olimar had rebuilt his entire ship from scratch as it was nearly ruined by a meteorite a while back, sensible was a bit of a stretch. But if he wanted to preserve lives, he would have to do it. Dashing away, from a borderline asleep Louie struggling to remain conscious, he dashed through the grass towards the struggling Pikmin.

Finally reaching the handful of carrot-like soldiers, he began flinging them towards the ship, slamming across the floor, finally stirring Louie from his slumber as a side-effect. While Louie woke up, the Pikmin filed in an orderly, yet frantic fashion as they piled into the ship, barely escaping the Bulborbs across the field. Finally satisfied, Olimar whistled, glaring at Louie, who simply nodded.

A beam of colorful light enveloped both Olimar and Louie as they were sucked into the ship's cockpits. Just as the engines blared to life, however…

Thud!

One Bulborb had ignored the risks and had slammed into the spaceship. A creaking noise followed by the sound of circuits sparking followed. While Olimar was immediately concerned, all three of the sentient beings began rocketing off into the stratosphere, setting the unlucky Bulborb's face aflame, also sending the Bulborb scrambling away for cover. With the Onions lifting up from the earth, the captains and their army lifted up into the sky, Louie sighing in relief as he laid back in his seat.

* * *

Past a cluster of trees, they soared, passing through the leaves as they rose. The red light blinking above his head, mounted on an antenna bobbed above playfully, but Olimar was in no mood to do any of the sort. He had also planned on writing a journal entry today, but considering the awful turn of events so far, it would probably be better just to turn in for the night. Leaving the cockpit slowly, Olimar lowered himself into the iron hull of the ship, walking past a distressed Louie, whose normally relaxed face was wide awake and terrified. Nodding to his co-employee, the two walked for a minute or two before finally coming across their bunks.

Without hesitation, Louie leaped from the metal floor onto the bed that he called his, wrapping himself in a blanket, eyes still bulging wide after the terrifying incident. Olimar made his way towards his own bunk, removing his helmet, leaving the red light to dance by itself. Placing himself on the bed, he stared up at the metal ceiling. Try as he might, he could not shake the last attempt the Bulborbs had pulled on receiving a meal. And unfortunately for Olimar, he would be carrying the thought of Bulborbs crashing into the ship to sleep tonight.

* * *

Alas, it was not to last. Awakening from his post-attack slumber, Olimar woke up to a red light. But unlike the one plastered on his helmet, this one sounded worse. His brain slowly processing the fact that his helmet did not make sound on its own, he realized too late that there was something wrong. Both Olimar and Louie were launched out of their bed without warning, tumbling about the metallic cabin, and while Olimar rolled around dizzily, Louie slept soundly throughout the lack of gravity that was spurred by the sudden movement.

Outside of the ship's cabins, the ship itself was twirling from side to side, the nosecone desperately attempting to stay in the air. The Onions appeared to notice the ship's rapid descent, and slowly began to lower, following the ship through the waking light of an early dawn.

That was the original plan. What was neglected in the original plan was to watch for tree branches. The Onions began fluttering down as smoke rose from the flowers, Pikmin running about somehow in the enclosed space. Well, it was a guess, mostly due to the amount of plants screaming. Everyone screeched in plain, unadulterated fear as the plummeted, up until the point where the crash finally occurred.

* * *

Olimar opened his eyes. A white light beckoned to him. Blinking, Olimar looked around. An empty, expanse of white flowers filled the land. Next to him, Louie stood, walking through the field with a white robe on. And a… Halo?

Soon, a few of the flowers stood up, halos popping up above them. Pikmin began standing up, following Louie. They all had robes on, and they all seemed to be light on their feet. So light in fact, that they began drifting off into the sky. Olimar was astounded by the fact, so astounded by it that he did not notice that he himself was floating.

Oh wait, yes he did. He noticed and he was flailing rapidly. A burning sensation invaded his nostrils, and somehow that spurred him to make way for the ground. Louie and the Pikmin glanced behind them, and found Olimar attempting to return to earth. They did so as well, almost swimming as they attempted to grab the earth as the same burning sensation invaded their senses.

Except for the Red Pikmin. A few of them glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed in a calm, yet somewhat cautious manner.

* * *

For the second time, Olimar got up, and his throat felt clogged. He coughed once, and realized the reason his throat felt as it did. His helmet was off. Blinking, he looked to the side of his bed, noticing that the helmet was dangling from the side. Reaching out for it, an invisible stranglehold on his throat, he grabbed the helmet and placed it on his head in a jiffy, the sweet taste of air filling his lungs yet again, Olimar sighing in relief. Glancing over at Louie, he noticed in the panic of last night, he had neglected to remove his helmet.

" _A blunder managed to save his life."_ He commented as he stared at his peacefully slumbering co-worker.

However, if the noise outside was any indication, there was trouble brewing. Getting up and off his bed, he cringed as he landed on the steel floors, concerned they might give way. Carefully striding outside of his cabin, he walked throughout the vessel, eventually coming across the cockpit opening. Climbing up, he was greeted with sunlight as he approached the cockpit. That being said, when he pushed the cockpit off, he was greeted with…

"Aiyee!"

Onions laid in a heap in the corner, leaf bandages wrapped around them as smoke rose. Looking down, the captain realized that the ship had planted itself into the ground, the talkative nosecone stuck in the dirt, grumbling something about meddlesome bugs. That was hardly the worst part. Under the morning sun, Olimar could see rows of Pikmin working tirelessly. Normally, that would be a good thing, but the injuries and chaos inflicted on the Pikmin took an evident toll on the troops.

Flames wrapped around the Onions and the ship's crash landing site. Without hesitation, a few Pikmin went as far as to throw themselves onto the fire. Olimar might have been shocked, had they not been Red Pikmin. Said reds flopped up and down on the fire as if they were fish, in hopes of subduing the flames.

* * *

Spoiler alert.

* * *

It did not work. While the flames flickered under the Pikmin, the fire kept on burning. A few yellows would attempt reaching the Onions by tossing each other over the walls of flames, but that would hardly work, as they would just come back with flaming flower buds. Their burns were treated with Red Pikmin flopping up and down on their flowers, which, surprisingly, worked out well for them. Eventually, the ring of fire intensified to a point where every flammable Pikmin out there started to collect themselves into a single group, sweating as the burning began advancing on them.

Luckily for them, a saving grace seemed to have appeared. Through one opening in the ring of flames that led into a miniature gully, a collection of blues rushed with small pails of water. As they rushed heroically onto the scene, Louie popped over by Olimar, gave him a good morning wave, and almost popped his own eyes out when he stared at the fire approaching slowly but surely. It seemed as though the blues might be on the trail to extinguishing the fire.

The blues made a beeline straight for the outer rim of the ring, then turned. The two captains only grew terrified when they noticed one thing. They were headed for the ship. Glancing down, the two noticed a spark of electricity buzzing from a scratch in the ship's side. Electric wires sparked onto a knot of grass, creating a makeshift bonfire. Lacking knowledge of how exactly electricity conducts water, they approached the wires, bucket raised to pour.

A shrill whistle broke out amidst all of the chaos. Frantically, Olimar whistled at the blues, putting all of his lung power into ensuring that they would stay as far away from the electricity as possible. The would be firefighters lowered the bucket. Olimar laid a hand on the side of the ship, raising himself out of the cockpit, standing on top of the ship a moment later. He stared at the ragtag group of panicking PikPik carrot lookalikes, glaring at them. He raised one hand, and pointed towards the blues. A rallying horn caught their attention, and soon, they found themselves making their way over the Onions slowly, following the leader's finger.

They caught on quickly enough, and began extinguishing the fire around their small root-like homes. Next on his roll call, Olimar turned to the yellows, whistling, pointing directly down towards the ripped cables sticking out of the ship. They nodded wholeheartedly, and advanced on the wires, dodging the fire. As they reached the lines of electricity, they pushed it back inside the ship, and one after another, formed a new wire using their own bodies, the yellows flashing. The engines sputtered.

Leaping off of the side of the ship, Olimar glanced at the reds, specifically those pretending to be a fish out of water. They ceased their pointless floundering, glancing at Olimar curiously. Pointing at the flames, the captain with a red antenna signaled for the fire. The Pikmin obeyed, and suddenly, a flood of crimson engulfed the flames as Red Pikmin quite literally fought the fire, smouldering it with smacks and hits, their fire-retardant bodies deflecting heat left and right.

Watching from a safe distance, Louie gazed in awe from the lopsided ship. That would be fixed soon enough, as dirt fell from the nose cone. The hungry captain found himself falling back in the cockpit as the ship hovered upwards, righting itself, then landing back on the dirt, the nose cone spinning about, scattering dirt, looking surprisingly shiny for something that slammed into the ground from high above this distant planet's ground.

The reds battled the flames with fists and stems, the yellows held the ship together, and the blues poured for what seemed like an eternity. Or about thirty minutes at the longest.

* * *

A few stressful minutes later, the remnants of the crash were gone nix for a handful of scorch marks littering the ground. But despite that, both of the captains, the ship, and the brave little Pikmin sitting about. They sighed, sitting in the shade of the Onions, a few resting in the grass, no matter how burnt it actually was. Sitting by the side of the ship with a few parts of his suit covered in soot, Olimar wrote in a pad with a stylus.

"It's amazing, really. The combined efforts of the Pikmin were astounding, it brings me back, to be certain." He finished, depositing his stylus in his suit's pockets, sighing, staring at the sun as it hovered just above the planet.

He briefly reflected on the accident that all led to this. Funnily enough, while the Pikmin and he made mistakes, they would fix them in an instant. He had made a mistake, whether it was his direct fault or not, by crash landing here. Was it really a mistake though? ...Maybe he was trying to hard to be philosophical. But even then, as Olimar rested up by the ship, perhaps that was closer to the truth than he might think. For the rest of the day, the whole lot of them would bask in the light of day, resting their batteries.

Speaking of which, they would have quite a bit of trouble with said batteries when Louie would decide to try and turn on appliances in the ship.

* * *

AN: Apologies for the delay. You ever look at the sunset cutscene and wonder how the ship manages to escape scot free despite being under siege by a bunch of creatures? I thought I might take a more probable approach.

Thanks Piston24 for reviewing! Glad I could provide something that might explain having a whole load of PikPik carrots to throw at wild animals.

All jokes aside, thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to feast on food because I'm hungry, see you.


	9. Shifty Snitchbugs and Batteries

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Battery Hunt and Cunning, Sneaky Insects**

Early in the morning, Louie poked his head out of the bed, rubbing his hands together with a smirk. Eyes curiously gravitating around the ship cabin, his eyes landed on Olimar, who snored peacefully in his bed. Quickly, Louie hopped out of his sheets, tiptoeing, at least attempting to with his large space sneakers on the suit he wore, away through the halls. After a brief walk, he came across the most wondrous room in the ship: The kitchen. Sitting there with aluminum pots and pans aplenty, Louie sighed, as if he had perished and gone to heaven.

But basking in the heavenly goodness of the kitchen would have to wait, as Louie's stomach had top priority. A stainless stove sat in front of him. Grinning, he made his way towards the appliance. Already set with a recipe in his mind, he reached for one of the dials and turned.

As Louie began his morning routine, consisting of eating for the most part, the innards of the Ship's hull was stirring with activity. The handful of Yellow Pikmin serving as the wires slept throughout the flight, yet remained in a straight line, connecting wires, electricity running through their tiny bodies. When the dial turned, a very small electric signal passed through the ship. A spark made its way along the bodies of the yellows, a few of their flowers blossoming as it traveled. Once it reached the end of the line however, it had reached one Pikmin. For a moment, it stuck to its face, the electricity tickling the Pikmin. It started to yawn, then the yawn escalated into hasty breaths, and then, the Pikmin sneezed.

* * *

Now crash-landed back on the planet floor, Olimar, Louie, and a collection of yellow, white, and purple streamed out of the ship as it grumbled in the dirt. The group turned back, watching as smoke drifted out of the ship.

"..." Olimar glanced at Louie with a frown.

Louie raised one finger as to make a point. "...uh-"

A plume of fire rose from the ship. Like a siren had sounded off, a herd of reds streamed out from their Onion which had just touched down on the ground. They streamed towards the ship and promptly began smacking the fire, doing their best to extinguish it. While the firefighters went to work, everyone stared at the culprit who had caused yet another accident.

Louie blinked, then slowly made his way into a small squad of blue Pikmin, and attempted to blend in by sitting in the middle. Olimar simply shook his head, whistled, and motioned for a few of the other Pikmin to follow him. The other captain blinked, watching him leave with a confused stare.

"He's going back to search for a new power source, you unbelievable-"

Louie jumped up, startled by the voice. He soon realized the voice belonged to the Ship's nose cone, as it just so happened to be hovering over him. Sounding like a gong, all of the Pikmin remaining at the site stopped whatever they were doing immediately, gazing in awe at the harmonious noise Louie made, and they were clearly impressed.

Unfortunately, fires do not put themselves out, so the panic resumed as little ant people scuttled about to save the space vessel.

* * *

Conveniently enough for Olimar, he had attained a familiarity of the planet and its various regions. Not long ago, the same Bulborb chase that had catapulted him into quite a crazy adventure through the planet had taken place here. Through trampled branches and crumpled leaves, Olimar led his troupe of merry Pikmin through the forest on a search for a suitable energy source. He had recalled a certain treasure buried in the dirt in his escape from one of the red devils, and he believed he knew where it was. Moving to and fro through the trees, he searched through the dirt and leaves of the underbrush, sifting the brown dirt around as he scoured the tree trunks for the treasure he had in mind.

While Captain Olimar searched, a few of the less interested Pikmin would boredly wander close by, making through the trees, climbing their trunks and branches, or search through the brush themselves. Through their travels, a Yellow Pikmin accompanied by one of its red cousins. Traveling far and wide across the land, teaching the Pokémon the power that-

Er. Well, that is a different story. But, they did travel. The winding paths of dirt and leaves extended through the forest was somewhat dizzying. But to the Pikmin, it felt rather natural and soothing. The Red Pikmin yawned, its nose raised into the sky as it did so. As it yawned, the Yellow Pikmin glanced to its left towards a tree. Blinking, it noticed a sheen embedded in the dirt. Something metallic and shiny was buried there. Its ears perking up, it began running towards the buried treasure, interest flooding its eyes. Soon, the Red Pikmin began to join in as well, following the yellow one, excitedly kicking up dirt. Reaching the strange object, they stared down at a metal circle. Shifting the dirt some more with their hands, they unearthed more, black and copper coloring surrounding it. Scrunching its face up, the red one seemed skeptical at first, until its yellow brethren tapped it.

A jolt of electricity ran through the Pikmin briefly, sending a comforting wave up the body of the yellow. The static only served to mildly zap the red, which rubbed its arm irritably. Nevertheless, the two had found a suitable replacement for the ship. In their excitement, however, they failed to notice a different kind of buzzing as they dug. For a while, they continually scraped at the ground, hardly noticing a curious bug staring from behind.

In the air, two antennae buzzed frequently, two eyes made up of smaller units, compound eyes to be precise, glanced to and fro, eventually settling on the two Pikmin. A restless pair of skinny insect pinchers clicked irritably as it stared, its compound, beady red eyes eyeing their stalks. Like a predator, it slowly hovered over, keeping check on the two, then dropped low, its pinchers aimed to strike.

All of a sudden, one of the Pikmin pointed out that there was an egg of sorts in the distance. The other glanced up, noticed, and made way for the egg excitedly, both of them eager to catch lunch. Unfortunately for the bug swooping downwards, that meant that it all it could swipe was grass and dirt, which was not optimal for its purposes in the slightest, the bug shaking in frustration. Still, there was a chance, they now laid siege to the egg, slowly but surely, the shell cracking with each hit. Rubbing its claws sinisterly similar to a supervillain in a bowler hat, it snickered in a way only a bug could snicker. Very high-pitched-like. Flapping its antennae over to where the Pikmin were stationed, it readied its claws, diving again.

As the eggshell broke, the Pikmin greedily began feasting on the sweet yellow liquid inside, ducking down to enjoy their floor meal. Thus, the insect missed again.

Had the floating bug retained any vocal chords, it probably would have said, "Curses!". But it did not, so an angry "Buzz" would have to do. Rolling up its imaginary sleeves, it watched the Pikmin closely, none of the cells in its eyes leaving for a second. The duo, with flowers now on the tops of their stems, returned to their site of operations, and began digging once more. Without hesitation, it was now or never. The bug practically nose dived towards the ground at this point, letting its antennae go slack, the organism becoming a green, yellow, and red bullet of sheer insect proportions.

A shrill whistle called out, alerting both the red and yellow workers. Looking up, they noticed Olimar and the rest of the squad marching towards them, Olimar looking ecstatic as he approached. Standing by the tree stump, he pointed towards the battery and whistled, all while congratulating the Pikmin responsible for the discovery. They beamed, obviously proud of their accomplishment.

* * *

Meanwhile-

* * *

BONK! The bug slammed into Olimar, toppling the two of them. Dazedly falling on the ground, the bug twitched, rubbing its head, its eyes carefully readjusting. Through the insect's vision, it seemed as though there were dozens of Pikmin in the eye fragments it had. In reality, it was not wrong. Red, Yellow, and Blue Pikmin surrounded it like an angry paint palette. Its eyes shrunk, and antenna stuck up in alert. Olimar, shaking his head, irritably pointed towards the creature which had assaulted him from beyond.

Had the bug had any vocal chords, it would've yelled, "I would've gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling-", but it did not, so it remained mostly silent as it was rushed by a swarm of Pikmin.

* * *

As Olimar brushed the dust off of his hands, he chimed in with yet another noisy command, which prompted the Pikmin to shove off, an unearthed battery now brought from the ground. A sizable cylindrical crater was left in its place. Within the crater, a crushed Swooping Snitchbug as he had come to call it was left, antennae still twitching. With all that said and done, he and the Pikmin began departing from the forest, two flower Pikmin at his side. As they began leaving the forest however and entered the clearing from whence they had come, they were in for quite the treat.

Louie, completely oblivious to the dangers of the flames, had a skillet at the ready, and was cooking quite the meal, with a delectable smoke rising from the top. Only thing is, his stove was hardly anything conventional. Rather, he had opted for another approach, using the ship itself to cook, the panels providing some form of heat. Before Olimar got the opportunity to ask "how", a less than subtle answer came, with Louie launched three feet into the air, rather a long distance considering their miniature size, one of the panels of the ship having propelled him into the air with an explosion. Blinking, he and his squadron made hasted, sliding down a small decline of dirt, making their way over towards the ship with haste. Swiftly, the Pikmin all carrying the battery made haste, and, without thinking, began to ascend the ship, climbing up, keeping the object steady. As they reached the top, they practically slammed the battery into the ship via one of the holes, panic overriding them.

Suddenly, the Ship's nose cone ducked from the sky, the helicopter blades rotating speedily. "Wait, no! That's not going to fix it, are you serious?! There's still a malfunction in the hull! An appliance is still active inside of there, adding fuel to the fire is just going to ruin it!"

While the Pikmin were somewhat confused as to what the heck the Ship was talking about, Olimar glanced at Louie, frowning in disappointment. Louie simply gave him a blank stare, to which Olimar rolled his own eyes at, starting for the spaceship's hull, giving his co-employee quite the shock. Running up the ship, he made his way into the ruined hull, grunting as he fell on the steel floors, past the battery shoved in moments prior. Getting to his feet, he shook his head, rubbing his space helmet. Looking around for a brief moment, he stared down the hallway, a few flames leading down the rooms. In the close distance, there laid a stove, which was glowing bright with heat. Rotating his arms in a stretching motion, he made haste, running, dodging flames as he went. Eventually, he reached the kitchen, sweat dripping down his face already. Reaching for one of the stove's dials, he twisted it, effectively shutting off the stove. As he did so, he heard a sparking noise. Looking back at the entrance of the kitchen, his mouth gaped open; wires dangled out from the top, sparking dangerously, a barricade of electrical vines now obscuring his path.

He frowned. He knew he should have brought Pikmin. Pacing around quickly, he began formulating possible plans, over and over, desperately hoping for a way out of this one. Olimar blinked, hastily glancing around, a hissing noise catching his attention. He gulped, bracing himself, falling to the floor in anticipation of a potential explosion.

The results were indeed explosive, but not in the way Olimar was expecting. From the ceiling, yet another steel plate dropped to the floor, scarred with soot. The captain blinked, his eyes growing large. Louie stood there, a small squad of Pikmin at his disposal, ten at most, all with primary colors. Already, Louie began whistling, the plant people loyally obeying, slapping fires and wires, taking out obstacle after obstacle. Olimar stared in a mixture of shock and awe, here Louie was, actively taking charge yet again. A blue glove offered to help him up, to which Olimar gladly accepted. The two captains whistled, the group of Pikmin halting immediately.

The wires extended out of the ceiling now dull and non-functional, (thanks to a barrage of Yellow Pikmin attacks) they all dashed out, ditching the ship, scurrying out via a hole in the hall ahead, short enough to leave through. One by one, they all filed through, red, yellow and blue, until all of them had left. With no time to waste, they all dived for the dirt, hands on their heads and helmets.

For a while, there was silence, the only sound being small wisps of fire crackling. Up until the point Ship hovered down and yelled, "What are you doing?! The Ship- Me, is burning! Get up! Time is money, you know!"

Blinking, the two Hocotatians got up and stared at the machine that had submerged itself in the dirt. It was hardly exploding in any sense of the matter. For a while, Olimar and Louie stared at each other and grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of their spacesuits where their necks might be. The Ship just shook itself, glaring at the two. As if a switch was flipped, the two realized what they needed to do. Whistling, the redirected the Pikmin, reacting almost exactly as the captains did, all now scrambling to fix the mess they had gotten themselves into, taking the entire day to fix their spaceship.

* * *

By the large tree where the battery was dug up, a disgruntled bug raised one claw like a fist, shaking it angrily.

"I will have my comeuppance one day!" It buzzed, though without any merit, as it still had no vocal chords.

* * *

AN: Swooping Snitchbugs are not exactly evil, nor are they good. But can you imagine one with a bowler hat and a sinister laugh? Certainly would change a lot in my humble opinion.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to put that idea down on paper.


	10. Rolls Of Any Other Name

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Rolls Of Any Other Name Are Just As Sweet, As Are Treasure**

The earth shook throughout the caverns. Stalactites once attached to the ceiling fell to the floor with audible "clangs", right before they crumpled into a fine dust. The screams of Pikmin echoed throughout the cavern, terror invading their eyes…

Because they were running from a living bread roll.

At least, that was what it could be compared to. A group of Pikmin dashed back and forth as a monstrous organism, pink and lumpy, threatened to crush them under its rolling weight. It was almost comical to look at, until you realized that they were legitimately running for the hills, so to speak, to preserve their lives. Some of the more nimble Pikmin got away scot free!

The others were flattened.

To say that Olimar was unnerved by the fact that one monstrosity was able to level a squadron by just rolling around in the dirt was one huge understatement. After a day's worth of therapy, fixing up the hull, and a whole lot in between, they finally fixed The Ship up and convinced it to join them once more. Of course, while it did finally oblige, descending into the crater in the ground, shivering in disgust, the Research Pod would glance around, hovering above the ground, and when it saw THAT, it… Well, it stayed in placed uncomfortably. It was really of no harm to the ship's nose cone, so the Research Pod could just hover and stare across from them without any problems. Or so it thought.

The constant wriggling of the enemy would unsettle the ceiling as well, dislodging rocks and dirt. Of course, it was somewhat obvious what would happen to a hovering machine closer to the ceiling than the Pikmin on the floor. Soon, The Ship found itself being pelted with boulders larger than itself. Their bulk was titanic in stature, but despite the fact that they probably should have just crushed The Ship in an instant, the nose cone tanked the rocks, which shattered on impact. Though it did leave a sizable amount of dust drifting around, which caused the machine, against all odds, to sneeze.

A little case of the sniffles was probably the least of anyone's worries. As Olimar ran about, his faithful squadron constantly followed him. The unlucky few who were left in the dust were squished, colorful souls drifting out of where they once stood. It was bad incentive to be sure, only terrifying the poor Pikmin more as they sprinted on tiny legs. Eventually, their nightmare came to an end, with a tired creature rolling back onto its impressive stomach. The creature in question had a face similar to a Bulborb, while its body shape gave the impression of a large worm.

Had Olimar had the time, he would have immediately noted this, and started on a name. Considering his state of affairs with the beast though, he would have to settle on "Bulblax" for the time being. The Bulblax glared back at him with two long eyestalks, frowning. For a moment, Olimar held one of his Pikmin in his grasp, ready to fling them at a moment's notice. Suddenly, the Bulblax's face scrunched up. Tilting his head, he stepped back cautiously, the Pikmin behind him staring at the ground just as carefully. A splashing noise, followed by a strange squish-like noise repeating across the floor only raised more worries. They were convinced that this was some sort of trap. Olimar flung a few Pikmin onto the Bulblax's face, which began growling, attempting to shake off the plant people. Through the darkness, just lit with help from his suit, he noticed something. Wriggling forms, small and white, hissed and crawled over to the Pikmin. Small Bulborb-like creatures, miniscule in comparison to the Dwarf Bulborbs attempted to make their way over towards Olimar and his group.

They were Bulborb larvae, Olimar concluded, standing with a Yellow Pikmin held in his red glove. They looked certainly ravenous, having just been born into the world, but they knew what their food looked like from day one already. Shifting over towards the group, the space captain wanted to aim straight for the queen of the little Bulborbs, still debating whether or not risking another crushing roll movement was worth it, it seemed as though he would not be the deciding factor. Fed up with the Pikmin on her face, the Bulblax finally shook off the red, yellow, and blue clouding her vision, barked once, and started her roll. Smashing into the wall on her left, she scattered the small, colorful carrot-like creatures, simultaneously causing spears of rock to fly down, smashing and scattering several Pikmin, and the captain himself.

The little Bulborbs licked their chops, crawling over for a bite. They never got it, as the Bulblax had decided to roll back around, crushing the little ones just as easily as she had before with the Pikmin. As she stopped rolling, blissfully unaware of her own folly, Olimar instantly retaliated. A hail of Pikmin was hurled through the air, looking somewhat like a rainbow with a distinct lack of at least three other colors, raining punches on the cruel empress, which howled in pain as it was pummeled. Eventually, it seemed as though she had given up, falling on the floor, with the Pikmin consecutively destroying her with their combined might. Her body appeared to swell up for a moment, catching Olimar's eyes. Going wide-eyed, he whistled frantically, calling over his troops, which gladly obeyed, dashing away. As they ran, the Bulblax exploded in a rain of goop, the explosions only ending when the thick head of the beast was left, and a pile of goop.

Wiping his helmet as if wiping away sweat, Olimar stood proud, with a cheering squad of survivors behind him. Their job was hardly over yet. Pointing forward, the Pikmin happily charged, stealing the head, a few pushing away the debris, searching through curiously as the others carried a disembodied Bulblax head to a disgusted looking Ship, which reluctantly abducted and carried the head.

The courageous captain walked forward, glancing down at the pile of sludge left behind. Looking around for a moment, he whistled again. A pile of rocks shifted, a few falling to the floor, and out of the pile, Louie poked his head out, his blue antenna lighting up his corner of the room. Calling him over, Louie began climbing out of the debris stack, dusting himself off as he went, walking over to his co-employee curiously. Olimar's glance towards the other remains of the Bulblax alerted Louie, who stared in a sort of curious delight. He rubbed his hands, which resulted in more discomfort from Olimar.

" _I can cook this."_ Louie thought to himself with a bit of drool dripping from the corner of his mouth, Olimar shaking his head behind him.

With that disturbing thought out of the way, Louie gleefully leaped into the mess, the Pikmin staring wide-eyed at their co-leader's odd leap of faith. Suddenly, they too jumped in, following with no other reason than, "Why not?" as both The Ship and Olimar stood to the side, dodging any meaty remains accidentally tossed their way. Eventually, it seemed as though they had finally taken care of their frolic in the meat, carrying chunks of Bulblax back, offering it to The Ship gleefully.

"...I am not touching that whatsoever. That hardly serves as treasure." The Ship shuddered, turning around stubbornly.

Huffing, Louie simply turned around, opening a blue pack strapped to the back of his spacesuit, depositing the remains in the backpack. Eventually, it seemed as though it was all said and done, the two captains nodded at each other, and began their trek back. Stopping in front of where the gunk of the boss had once stood, now fragmented into small pieces, was… Something. Narrowing his eyes, Olimar stared at the object in front of him. He could swear it very vaguely resembled a boot of some sort. It was pink, and significantly big compared to the foot ware he was used to, however. Nevertheless, if it was any indication of treasure, he would need it to pay off his debt.

Calling over the remaining dozens of Pikmin still left, he called them over, pointing towards the strange boot. Circling around the shoe, the Pikmin glanced up and down, then filed underneath, holding it above their heads, walking back over towards the ship with their boot now in their possession. Eyeing the alien treasure carefully, searching just in case it had any trace of insect remains. Finding that it was simple fabric, it sucked up the boot into its hull, carrying it in its seemingly infinite carrying space, it began to hover upwards, following the others. Nodding towards the ship, both captains made their way, looking for whatever geyser would propel them back to the surface.

* * *

"Hmm. If I use the technology embedded in the treasure you retrieved, I believe it may prove beneficial to you." The Ship's metallic voice called out, "The way that this is designed is to provide the ultimate mobility. Whoever was behind this primitive footwear was certainly much more capable despite his less developed status.

The two captains sat in front of The Ship, Research Pod now reattached as the proper nose cone it was, a holographic image of the boot they had taken from the caverns displayed in the rays of the sun. Pikmin lounged about on the grass by their Onions, taking in the sunlight as well, their leaves swaying in the breeze lazily. Olimar and Louie continually moved their feet, staring down at their boots as though it had been imbued with a new power. In reality, that was closer than expected. As Olimar got up to his feet, he shook the boots he had on just for good measure, and started running. Breaking into a dash immediately, he found that the weight of his spacesuit was almost nonexistent. It was as if he could run for miles without stopping.

The Pikmin noticed, soon cheering him on, Olimar running laps around the Onion. While it looked useful, Louie could care less, hungering for a good meal rather than run about for no real purpose. The Ship impatiently glared down at Louie, who sighed, shaking his head.

"If you aren't going to beat a disgusting abomination of nature, at least test out the shoes." The Ship spoke up.

Sighing, Louie got up to his feet. He stretched for a moment, raising his arm over his head, then kneeled down as if he were an Olympic sprinter. Taking off the ground, he started running. Grinning, he began sprinting faster and faster. It seemed rather comfortable actually, as he sped up. He sped up and up, eventually outracing an Olimar he had passed by. This was great! It was so great, so swift in fact, that he did not notice the tree that blocked the path ahead.

The plant people cringed as they saw the captain in blue crash into a tree. Acorns fell from the top by Louie's side, despite having slammed into hard wood at a speed almost incomprehensible, he seemed interested in the texture and flavor of the acorns, dazedly shoving his face into the giant oaknut. As the others sweat from seeing their companion barrel into a tree, The Ship silently took notes.

 _"Note to self: Do not use White Pikmin as an test example."_ The Ship shook its head, _"...Unless profits result."_

* * *

AN: Apologies for the somewhat short chapter. Need to brainstorm good ideas for this story, as well as three other ones while maintaining a very chaotic schedule. Expect it to grow more chaotic as school and workdays approach, ready to snuff out summer.

On that depressing note, let's take a look at some reviews! Thanks Piston24 and S.P. for reviewing!

Who knows what that dastardly Snitchbug has in mind for our heroes, Piston? Find out next time on Pikmin Ball Z! I'm glad I was able to add something interesting to the Pikmin table. Perhaps environmental effects can be expected in Pikmin 4?

Thank you for showing interest in my story, S.P.! Glad to have been of service.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to spam Bayonetta's forward-throw to hear a Virtua Fighter easter egg, see you.


	11. Match of the Century

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **The Championship Title Bout For The Tree of The Century! (And hopefully lunch)**

Within the deep recesses of a den buried deep in the ground, sunlight streamed through, revealing a small crater filled with flowers. A variety of wild species, dandelions, small chrysanthemums, etcetera, they filled the grass ground in the hole. Within the hole, there laid what seemed to be fallen rocks, collapsed as if they had been beaten down. At least, to the untrained eye. Though, I suppose if you can look through a multitude of sublevels in the first place, then it is already pretty impressive. Regardless, despite the fact they resemble rocks, they were in fact, living creatures.

Most of them, one was lying on the floor, their souls had gone off to a better place, tired eyes staring up at the ceiling. If that sounds morbid, it should not be, because Pikmin is an E rated game!

But regardless of ratings, they pretty much were dead. Olimar and Louie clustered around a fallen rock beast, a crowd of Pikmin staring down at it as well. It laid still, flowers crowding it. Interesting enough, while it was certainly an interesting specimen, the treasure it had by its side was even more intriguing. A fist, seemingly raised to punch the sky, sat on the ground, with a dark blue coat of pain as if it were a glove of sorts. With a whistle, Olimar ordered the Pikmin forward, who gladly walked towards the foreboding statue, picking it up, hoisting it back towards The Ship's Research Pod, humming along as they went.

While Louie poked the smooth rock creature, tapping a claw at its side which resembled a crab's, Olimar watched as his troops hefted the monumental fist underneath the ship, laying it on the ground under the beam of light that emanated from The Ship. With a whirring noise, the Research Pod suctioned the metallic glove up into its small hull. As it hovered overhead, the Pikmin finished with their task sighed, sitting down on the soft dirt, looking around absentmindedly.

"Brute Knuckles." The Ship announced, already gifting the object with a name of its own.

Tiny cheers from the Pikmin soon followed, with Olimar nodding over to Louie, who turned back in fright, giving a curt nod. One by one, the Pikmin began filing past their defeated foe, cheering on in their small victory. Ahead of them, a geyser spewed water up into the sky with brute force. Brushing past flowers and dirt, Olimar whistled, calling each and every red, white, and blue carrot doppelganger that was with them to hop in. The blue coworker seemed excited to leap out of the hole, making a whistling noise as well. Looking behind him, he noticed the Pikmin carrying his soon-to-be lunch, the very same creature that was as solid as stone. Olimar simply shook his head, leaping up on the water geyser, already rising high into the air. Louie followed close behind as the Pikmin finished their scavenging task, soon hopping into the burst of water with screams as though they were riding a rollercoaster. The Ship, having taken the yet to be named organism, (reluctantly) followed them as well, spiraling about the water as it flew up into the sky.

* * *

Like always, they managed to land, against all odds, in the exact middle of their camp, with the Hocotate Ship's body sitting behind them, the nose cone hovering down to tighten itself back in its rightful place, as the patriotic Pikmin came flying down through the sky, landing down by the collection of captains, who got to their feet slowly. Just then, something slammed into the ground next to them, startling Olimar and several Pikmin. Louie, however, had an ecstatic expression, at least as happy as Louie could get with a blank face, and ran over to the object, which, when the dust cleared, happened to be the strange creature from earlier.

"There, keep your lunch, but don't even think of bringing it near me." The Ship shivered while Louie licked his chops.

* * *

But meanwhile, unbeknownst to our heroes, two bugs stared back from the safety of a shaded tree. Compound eyes with multiple cells rotated restlessly, until they finally settled on the captains and their squadron of Pikmin down by their Onions. One, with bruised antennae, rubbed its skinny arms together menacingly, a high-pitched cackling coming from the bug, which, through the sunlight of the trees, could be identified as the Swooping Snitchbug, still holding on, back with a vengeance. Next to it, another bug glared down, lying down on the branch the two hid on.

This creature, while similar in appearance to its Swooping cousin, was somewhat different. Its face did not protrude out, instead, two beady red eyes were stuck next to its thick, spiky arms. Like its cousin, however, it had an impressive abdomen, which it laid on, two antenna twitching above its head, and, yes, it did rub its hands together rather forebodingly just as much as its companion.

While not currently visible to the two captains, this species of insect was known as the Bumbling Snitchbug, discovered by Olimar and Louie themselves. In contrast to its skinnier Swooping Snitchbug brethren. But, to make it simple, we shall just refer to the skinny one as Snatch and the chubbier one as Bump for story reasons, and because that is probably the easiest name we could possibly differentiate them by. Snatch, whose eyes narrowed, glaring at the group practically sitting ducks down below. It was a simple operation, the Swooping Snitchbug thought to itself, giving a quick glance to its companion. Bump buzzed eagerly, staring at Snatch, who gave an assuring nod, before pointing down below to where they sat, getting things in order. Bump nodded, hopped off the branch, and zoomed down through the air, raising its appendages out to strike.

* * *

As it did so, homing in like a missile, Louie gagged on the chunk of food he chewed on. The Mamuta that Olimar had recently named was certainly awful. The only possible way it could be edible is if it were converted down into nutrients, and the Pikmin were not keen on sharing those. So the budding chef coughed out the harsh meal, reached into the blue backpack he carried, and took out a notebook, writing in it quickly.

" _Inedible."_ He wrote simply, tapping on the side of his helmet, smudges of barbecue sauce stuck to the side, wiping it off as he began writing again, _"Tastes like chicken."_

Describing his culinary experience, Louie leaned back on the dirt, while Olimar and The Ship spoke at the side. Sitting in front of Olimar was a rock, which was helpfully provided by the small soldiers at his side, holding the stone steady, the captain taking up a bit of an awkward fighting stance, bobbing back and forth.

The Ship cleared its nonexistent throat. "Now, unlike the Rush Boots where I may or may not have had a few technical issues, this upgrade will allow you to show the wildlife you mean business if they grow too close for comfort. Three punches are all you need."

Staring at the boulder in front of him, Olimar could not help but give a skeptical look back to the ship as he stared down at his gloves. At best, this could work wonders and provide Olimar with the self-protection he so needs in order to keep himself safe in times of peril. At worst, he could slam his fist on a rock and hurt himself. Reluctantly, he readied his gloved fist, staring straight at the rock. The Pikmin behind the rock gave him nods, some giving him thumbs-up. Breathing out slowly, the captain punched once, scraping the rock, twice, denting it, and finished with a final blow, bashing his fist into the rock. For a while, he breathed in and out, leaving his fist in the stone for a few minutes, then retracted his hand.

Unfortunately, the most that caused the rock was a minor fracture, but luckily for Olimar, his hands were safe. Still, he could not help but feel disappointed, the Pikmin staring at the small crater in the rock, shrugging slightly.

"I am not a miracle worker, I am a spaceship. Alas, if there was more I could do, I would grant you the power to level mountains. ...As long as it provides results." The Ship spoke up, "I have implemented it in both you and Louie's suits, so if you ever do get stuck in a pinch, you can at least beat back those nasty bugs."

Looking up to The Ship, his fist still raised, Olimar nodded his thanks. He then promptly sat on the ground, sighing, stretching his glove by wiggling his fingers, the sentient vegetables crowding around him, staring at his gloves curiously. As they did so, not one of them noticed the insect homing in on Louie. Up until the point they heard a fellow Pikmin's scream. Spinning around, they noticed Louie holding on for dear life, struggling to keep the Bumbling Snitchbug off of his legs. He held on tight to a Blue Pikmin, who in turn held on to a chain of other Pikmin, practically bawling in fear as Louie tried kicking away at the bug. Ironically, it seemed as though Louie's own hand had dealt the final blow; both of his gloves and the Blue Pikmin's hands he held onto were coated with a slippery, brown substance. Barbeque sauce. Before he could curse himself for not wiping his hands, he was spirited away through the sky, the only companion being a Blue Pikmin as they were kidnapped.

Olimar could not believe his eyes. Watching them as they were taken off into the nearest oak tree, he began whistling frantically, all of the Pikmin charging after them, running through towards the great shade of the tree, hoping to save their second captain. The Ship on the other hand just sighed and shook its head, detaching itself from its own body, and set off after them, grumbling to itself.

* * *

As if it were purely convinced it was a super-villain, Snatch laughed gleefully in its own Snitchbug way as it watched Louie dangling from the hands of his associate. It would only be a matter of time before Bump swung Louie down to the ground, where he would fall to his doom-

If Bump had not carried Louie directly towards where he was hiding!

Had Snatch had any vocal chords, he might have said, "No, you fool! What are you doing?!" But it came out as a collection of chirps.

Setting the two down in front of his companion, Bump stared at Snatch in confusion, buzzing as if to say, "What? Didn't you tell me to swoop down there and snatch them? Well here they are!"

Snatch's insect mandibles practically dropped to the floor. "You were supposed to drop HIM and only HIM to his doom! That was the entire plan!"

Before Bump could say anything, Snatch sweat the sweat only bugs could sweat, (if that makes any sense) glaring behind him. Louie and the Pikmin probably overheard their plot! Already he could see the rush of adrenaline in the blue pair's eyes…

The Swooping Snitchbug was not wrong. The Blue Pikmin that Louie had dragged along purely by accident was raring to fight, making noises that were probably meant to be threatening, but sounded more like a squid if it were standing on two legs. Louie on the other hand was just hungry. Since his last meal was out of the question, it appeared as though appetizers with wings sat in front of him, looking juicy and delicious.

With all these thoughts stuck in their heads, the four of them put up their dukes and prepared to brawl. While unaware of the upgrades in his arms, Louie raised his fists up, already throwing practice punches eagerly. His small companion glanced at him, and soon the Pikmin began imitating him, throwing punches left and right. Across from them, Snatch simply hissed, rubbing his arms together. Bump did as well, the Snitchbugs giving each other a brief high-five of sorts, before rotating their appendages as if they had their fists raised for a fight. The sound of a whistle underneath them cinched it, and the match begun.

Both Louie and the Pikmin charged, flying towards the insects in a rush. No matter how fast they ran, however, it seemed as though actual flight outclassed them as the Snitchbug duo just hovered out of the way, the two of them punching the tree instead. The bark crumbled a bit where they had punched, leaving a tan dent in the tree. Cackling like the budding evil villains they were, the insects flew about, dodging punches left and right. Eventually, as both Louie and the Pikmin grew restless, the two bugs retaliated, swooping in, grappling them both by their leaf or light antennae that sprouted from their respective helmets or heads. Carrying them up into the sky, they passed the tree tops, where the wind rustled somewhat. Both of them nodded at each other, then flung them down through the leaves, where they created a hole in the canopy, sunlight streaming through as both of them landed back on the branch, groaning as they rested on the wood.

While arguably the battle of the century escalated above them, Olimar and his Pikmin squad traveled up the tree, climbing up roots and branches which provided as sort of a spiral staircase up to the top, The Ship accompanying them. Silently, Olimar was rather pleased with how fast he and his squad were ascending; the Rush Boots certainly provided a spring in his step. As swift as he ran, he could not shake the feeling in his gut that something big was going on.

And indeed it was. If you count bugs smacking around a small spaceman and blue carrot "big", which probably looks more like a bunch of wasps attacking ants if you were to look at it from a regular, human perspective. Try as they might, Louie and his Pikmin teammate were getting decimated in terms of attacks. The Snitchbug tag team was too quick, either gripping them and swinging them back down or knocking them upside the head with a skinny bug arm, they were outclassed. Groaning, the Pikmin next to him seemed pretty exhausted, lying on the branch, its pupils resembling a dizzy spiral.

Louie, on the other hand, was fed up. He was hungry, and he did not want his food to constantly give him headache. Out of spite, he swung at the air. One, two, three went his fist, missing the first combo.

The bugs laughed.

One, two, three.

Snatch swerved around the branch, cheering himself on. "We've got them! Final attack!" He spoke to Bump, who nodded.

One… Two…

Winding up his fist, Louie launched a punch that seemed to momentarily dislocate his shoulder, lengthening his arm, and just as the Snitchbugs circled overhead.

"WHAT?!" Snatch's compound eyes opened wide.

Both he and Bump screeched as Louie's fist practically knocked them out of the park. They bounced off of the tree as Louie continually swung around blindly, still hoping to hit his opponent whom he unknowingly smacked.

Now, if Snatch and Bump could speak, they might have said, "TEAM SCARPANID'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" But they cannot, so terrified buzzes will have to do as they faded into the sky, disappearing in a flash of light.

Breathing in and out underneath the light flowing through the canopy, Louie's hand uncurled back into a flat position, lying by his side as he rested. Slowly, fatigue began to catch up with him, and, with the fleeting glimpse of a Blue Pikmin staring at him, he shut his eyes.

* * *

Olimar coughed, a tired parade of Pikmin following an equally tired captain ascended the tree, finally reaching the branch they had been looking for. Sighing, Olimar retracted his arm back into his suit, wiped his brow of sweat, and stuck his hand back into his spacesuit's glove, glancing ahead. Sitting on the ground, a Blue Pikmin stared over at a fallen captain. Laying on the ground, Louie appeared motionless, like the Mamuta before him.

Eyes wide open, everyone, Olimar, the Pikmin following him, and The Ship stared in disbelief. Shakily, Olimar walked over to Louie, falling to his knees, staring down at his coworker, setting the side of his head onto Louie's spacesuit's chest, listening intently for the sign of any-

"FOOD!" Louie shouted suddenly, his fist raising up.

Olimar grunted back, as he was flung into the crowd of Pikmin by Louie's punch. Already, there was a great commotion. One half of the Pikmin began cheering wildly as Louie got up to his feet, holding his stomach in disappointment, whereas another half carried Olimar under the ship, where he was beamed up, presumably to remedy the massive whooping he had just undertaken. With all that said and done, everyone filed back down the tree, with a merry mood among most of them, accompanied by Louie's irritated stomach rumbling like a drum.

* * *

An e-mail popped up on a computer screen, revealing an animated image of a man with large cheeks and ears, narrow eyes like lines and a curly strand of hair on his head being some of his most prominent features.

He spoke, "Now, Olimar, you are doing a grand job of solving Hocotate's debt problem, but what's this nonsense about taking a break? You can take the longest break you want after all of this blows over! Hop to it! Just look at me, for instance. Those debt sharks aren't going to avoid themselves!"

The screen shut down, with the room Olimar sat in being enclosed in darkness. Sighing, Olimar shook his head, got up to his feet, and walked one step.

He promptly collapsed next to his bed, and began snoring as his exposed face stuck to the steel floor.

* * *

AN: ROCKET PUNCH.

I love this upgrade man, it's so handy. I mean, being able to punch aerial enemies without jumping? Rad.

Rad abilities aside, let's get back to those reviews. Thanks S.P. and Piston24 for reviewing!

Thank you for your compliment S.P., and thank you for the suggestion as well! I really appreciate your help, and with that, I present- Or have already presented, that duo of dastardly deeds, the Swooping Snitchbug and Bumbling Snitchbug.

I'm glad to hear from someone else that I am improving, thank you Piston24.

Thanks again for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to throw PikPik carrots at Piklopedia creatures, see you.


	12. Variety, the Spice of Life

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Variety, the Spice of Life (Recommended to use in small doses)**

The Pikmin were a restless bunch. It was somewhat of a mystery to Olimar on how they would go about spending their time specifically. Almost every single time Olimar returned to the planet after a long while, the population of Pikmin seemed to dramatically decrease. Every time, it seemed as though the hundreds of Pikmin once at his beck and call, they would disappear in a flash, leaving only about a handful of them left to repopulate the species. Nevertheless, he continued to push forwards, continued to help the numbers grow as they dipped back into low territory.

That was how he always did it. Even from things as insignificant as a small red pellet could provide the push a Pikmin needs to grow. It was truly-

* * *

"Captain Olimar, snap out of your doldrums!"

Olimar jumped up on his small chair and began rubbing his ears. A keyboard attached to a monitor laid on a metal desk within The Ship's cabin, filled with the writing of the ever dutiful captain. The Captain's helmet laid to the side, empty and silent. Aside from, of course, the extremely loud Ship who interrupted Olimar's research papers.

Now having redirected his gaze from the papers back over to the talking vessel, which, confusedly was echoing all throughout the room, The Ship spoke, "Louie's up already searching for treasure. I'd say you've done a fine job coaching him."

The small compliment did manage to rouse a smile out of the captain in red who beamed almost as bright as the sunlight outside, but the smile dissipated once The Ship continued speaking.

"But that does not exempt you from working just as hard as he is. Get out there right now and help out." The Ship commanded the small commander.

Giving a brief glance back to his computer lying on the steel desk by the side of a small window, Olimar could swear that there were at least five more paragraphs he had fresh in his mind in which to describe the Pikmin race with. Unfortunately for him and his work ethic, it appeared as though today would not be the day when he would finally finish his research, as arduous and ridiculous procrastinating on it for yet another day sounded to him. Shaking his head in defeat, he stepped forward close to the desk and reached over the top of the computer screen, taking ahold of it and closing it shut. Soon after that, he made his way over to his small fishbowl of a helmet that sat on the floor patiently, the Pikmin commander placing the glass dome over his head, screwing it in tightly with a few spins. With all of his equipment firmly attached to his body in some way shape or form, Captain Olimar began to strut out of the room and towards the exit of The Ship's hull to finish up quickly and return to his studies just as swiftly. Traveling throughout the steel floor, he began climbing up through a small port leading to a glass dome shaped window leading to the outside realm.

As he popped out of the glass window leading towards the outside and hopped out onto the ground, (to which The Ship scolded him despite Olimar paying little to no attention) he stared around the immediate area carefully. Around the Onions standing tall on their tan appendages resembling legs, the majority of red yellow and blues bumbled about carelessly. Staring at them confusedly, he wondered whether or not his "faithful" space vessel was playing some sort of practical joke on him. His thoughts were soon put to rest however when he noticed a handful of Pikmin began to advance close to him.

Among the White and Purple Pikmin jogging about with supplies, a whole squadron of them toted berries, large round berries about the size of Olimar's own helmet around. The colors of the wild fruit were but a simple pink and violet, and seemingly jiggled about in an almost liquid behavior. Watching the line of Pikmin walk about with the bulbous juice containers was certainly gratifying. The line did not at all opt for approaching the Onions for the honor of carrying the berries, no, instead they were aiming for The Ship, laying the fruits down right in front of the space vehicle. The Ship's nose cone, upon quickly scanning the berries sat by it, would suction them into its Research Pod. After a few minutes of collecting, The Ship rustled quite a bit up until the point where a vial popped out of its hull.

Blinking as the vial was hurled out and landed on the dirt, Olimar stooped down, inspecting the bottle, which was filled to the brim with a cherry colored liquid. Picking the glass up, he turned towards the Pikmin who were finished with their tasks, now eagerly turning their gazes to Olimar, awaiting the red captain's orders. Gawking at the cherry-colored liquid, the Hocotate Freight employee began hatching an idea in his head. On the bottle was a small nozzle on the top. Turning the bottle towards the Pikmin, he squeezed the top of the nozzle. Having released the bottle contents, the fluids caught on the wind through the air. Finding themselves covered in pink all of a sudden, the Pikmin began jittering.

First it started out slowly but surely, with each and every small plant specimen twitching ever so often. Soon, it turned out that it was much more potent than just an irritating substance. The Pikmin started flailing about, their stems smacking into anything and everything that was not considered friendly, or sentient for that matter. Olimar watched as a nearby debilitated wall constructed out of fossilized rock of some sort was laid siege to by the plant people who struck against it wildly until the point where it crumbled at its base foundations, Olimar watching as the wall was destroyed and reduced to rubble.

He began sweating, sneaking a glance at his glass performance booster. The vibrance and attitude seemed extremely spicy for a simple fruit to say the least. Looking to the side where the poor unsuspecting obstacle was no more, he could only sigh in relief as the Pikmin previously stock on a sugar high began to calm down, their flower buds and leaves no longer glowing with an almost invincible fervor energy.

"Hmm. It appears the ultra spiciness of the berries Louie has gathered is much more than meets the eye. Truly terrifying if a whole army of Pikmin were to down even a bottle of that." The Ship commented as it stared at the now comatose colored carrots.

After that terrifying incident, all Olimar could do was murmur in agreement. Deciding against any horrific rampages fueled by berries, the captain began to stow away the glass. Or at least he would have, had it not been for the fact that he no longer held any glass of the sort in his red gloves. Eyes growing wide, Olimar began spinning around to find wherever it had gone off to. Now he was beginning to worry considerably. Had even a handful of Pikmin, or even a sneaky predatory creature stolen the vial, this could prove awful for both the Pikmin and the poor soul who had ingested the liquid.

"Ah. That hit the spot."

Everyone went silent. Cautiously, everyone diverted their stares to the side. Louie, standing in place rather plainly, placed a small glass onto the ground, the remnants of a crimson liquid still remaining in the cylinder. No one moved for a while, no one spoke, it was made to be absolutely silent. Louie had not a single clue of what was going to happen to him, and quite frankly, neither did Olimar, The Ship, or the Pikmin.

For a moment, The Ship attempted to speak, "...So, how does it taste?"

Immediately it wished it had not even tried to mention it in the slightest. A shade of red began overtaking Louie's face, slowly transforming him to resemble a Red Pikmin. His eyes shot open to the point where Olimar and the Pikmin were unsure of how to proceed, and while the violently bug-like movements that came after was yet another red light, the entire group shuffled closely to the twitching Louie.

* * *

Of course, while everyone crowded around Louie, all that mattered in his mind was the taste of the drink he had downed moments before. Throughout all of the twitching, one thought and one thought only ran through his head, repeated time and time again.

" _Hot. Hot. Hot, hot hot hot HOT!"_

* * *

Eventually Louie stopped shaking in place, remaining just as still as a statue. A few seconds passed, and eventually, one of the Pikmin became fed up with the motionlessness of their co-leader, and marched over towards Louie with a piece of its mind. One of the Pikmin's peers, upon noticing its colleague approaching the Hocotate Freight employee, began shaking its head frantically. It was unfortunately too late for any warning. The exact moment the irritated Red Pikmin's miniature fingers scraped against Louie's spacesuit was when things spiralled into insanity. The touch sent Louie falling over on his back, who started staring at the sky lackadaisically. The Red Pikmin, upon that same instant, backed away nervously, earning itself a scolding remark from one of its peers. Rubbing its head, it turned back from its brethren back to Louie.

Only to find a Louie sized mark in the ground. Eyes opening wide, the Red Pikmin could not help but gawk at the crater in a mixture of bewilderment and terror. The Ship, the Pikmin, and the Captain were all on edge and all equally unnerved. Before they could try anything else, they simultaneously dodged a flying object that swerved overhead with the utmost speed, to which they directed their terrified gazes upwards at.

Hopping from tree branch to tree branch similar to a flea on the run was none other than Louie himself. Each jump he took appeared to shatter the branch from the inside, large planks of wood falling upon the group. Noticing the debris dropping from the sky, both Olimar and his Pikmin entourage ducked and leaped for cover, cowering under the fearsome might of Louie. The Ship was not quite as lucky as the organic entities and found itself smacked by a shard of wood flung from the tree and began toppling backwards until it slammed into the ground, groaning mechanically and in terms of dialogue.

* * *

However, while Louie was becoming Pikmin enemy number one even before the end of the game, that did not mean that the other wildlife was spared from his unconscious rampage. As the living bullet bounced off of a tree, like a meteorite, it was flung towards a snoring Bulborb and its entourage of Dwarf Bulborbs who napped peacefully. That soon changed however, with the high-speed projectile that was Louie crash landing into the ground right besides them. The immediate shock wave caused by the impact reverberated towards the group of snoozing predators, who awoke to the feeling of the weightlessness. Curious eye-stalks pivoted in a circle, wondering as to why it could feel the wind rustling past it. Glancing down, the group of Bulborbs soon realized that the main reason had to do with the fact that they were no longer on the ground anymore. Blinking, they all started swallowing nervously, just before they plummeted towards the earth below.

* * *

In the sky just above, a duo of shaken bugs with antennae bandaged with leaves and bruised abdomens fluttered about. One of them, a Swooping Snitchbug by the ever familiar name of Snatch flew shakily, supported by the other insect, the Bumbling Snitchbug called Bump.

Given the circumstances of the matter, if they had the ability to speak, Snatch would have said, "Well, this is a fine mess we've wrapped ourselves into."

Bump simply nodded his head sadly. "Right. Any ideas, Snatch?"

Snatch buzzed sinisterly, as if he wanted to say, "I do have one, actually! We-"

He would have been interrupted, if he had been talking mind you, by Louie smashing into the bugs' via ricochet. Leaf bandages peeling off as they were once again launched away, had they had the ability to, the insects would have screamed, "CURSES, FOILED AGAIN!"

Regardless of whether they did or not, as Louie flew up into the sky above the clouds, his burning face settled down, switching back to its light peach color as his eyes reset to their simple line positions. Glancing around in the big blue up high above the ground, he noticed that the ground and plants below were growing larger. So much larger, in fact, that he almost did not realize he was getting any closer to the ground. He did, eventually, realize that fact, and when he did, that was when the yelling truly began. Flailing his arms as if to ascend, he realized that flapping like a canary shot with a tranquilizer was definitely not the way to go. As the ground neared, Louie simply righted himself, aimed for the softest spot of ground he could see below him, and braced himself.

Closing his eyes, he could barely hear the sound of a "thump". For a few moments, he was entirely sure it was all over, that he was gone and on his way for the great beyond. Then he opened his eyes. Light and colors flooded back into his previously pitch black world, mainly due to the multiple veggies with eyes that crowded around him. Feeling as though he had the wind knocked out of him, he sat up straight and true, the collection of Pikmin dispersing away from him, giving him space. Dizzily wobbling his head about, he gave it a few test shakes. That appeared to have worked successfully, as the world spinning about wildly seemed to have been stopped and made to stay in one place.

There was silence for a moment, but the silence did not last long at all. Cheers from all directions sounded off, much to Louie's surprise. Turning around, he began to ponder. Either A), he and all of these Pikmin are dead, or B), he had survived the landing. But considering the likelihood of all of these organisms dying at once, especially The Ship and Olimar, he began believing that perhaps it was all fine and dandy. Standing up, he proudly accepted the round of applause given to him for not perishing previously. Waltzing over to The Ship, Olimar sighing in relief in the background, but on his way there, he happened to notice another vial filled with a cranberry colored liquid sitting by the vessel. Grinning wildly, he licked his chops and began walking somewhat faster.

Tracking the path that Louie was taking, the onlookers' eyes burst open in shock. Once again, a lack of proper reaction time prevented them from attempting to stop Louie from taking the juice. With a simple swipe, he took the bottle, swiftly pulled it through the arm socket on his suit by removing and reattaching his gloves without a care in the world, and downed the drink.

Repeating the course of action just minutes ago, there was no sound, there was no movement, nothing. Louie just stood still, mulling over the taste of the juice.

* * *

Except this time, a completely different thought ran through his head: _"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-bitter."_

* * *

The Pikmin covered each others' eyes as they watched Louie's face contort and contract in gruesome ways. Looking away in complete opposite directions, they all stared at the grass, hoping and praying to forget exactly how the co-commander was currently being subjected to a fate much more bitter than death. Olimar and The Ship looked on in horror. Eventually, their ride of terror came to an end. Weakly, Olimar started whistling, attracting the reluctant gazes of the Pikmin. Their eyes lit up in a plain sort of confusion.

Louie just stared back at them with a blank face. "What?"

By "blank face", Louie stared back at them with the cleanest of faces. Nothing, not a nose, a mouth, nor any eyes remained on his face. They were all twisted up to the point where they were too small to see, contorted by the taste of the fruit. However, Louie did not seem too concerned. Shrugging at the attention, he began whistling a muffled whistle, walking back towards The Ship, leaving everyone else to remain horrified for the rest of the day.

As the sun began dipping in the night sky and the wildlife began recuperating from the painful experience of being shot by a Louie bullet, the only thing anyone had to say, coming from the ship, was, "For once, erasing data does not seem to be too bad. Remind me to clean my memory until it comes up blank of this incident, Olimar."

For once, Olimar wholeheartedly agreed, enviously wishing he too could wipe his memory.

* * *

AN: I can't say that I wish that Captains had the ability to consume spices themselves because of this chapter's central idea. It could be cool, however. Perhaps in the future we will see in Pikmin 4 whether or not spices will be used to provide assistance for the budding captains. Or Olimar and Louie if they return.

But aside from that, let's take a look at some reviews. Thanks Piston24 and S.P. for reviewing!

Well, Piston24, you were indeed correct about that assumption. Not exactly in the most glorious fashion this time, maybe some other day.

S.P., I must thank you for your enthusiasm to offer ideas. I certainly appreciate it.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to review grammar. See you.


	13. Natural Artists

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Natural Artists(?)**

Water trickled among the rocks as it flowed through a small stream among the great plains in the middle of nowhere, collecting in an equally tiny puddle. A large tree overshadowed the miniature body of water, the shade extending far across the plains. Within the puddle, flowers and leaves sprouted, swirling about in the liquid. Blue heads bobbed up and down, creating multiple ripples in the water.

Pikmin azure in color swam about, gliding among the muck and wetness of the puddle. To a giant, perhaps their pool was nothing but a puddle in the mud below, but to the ant-sized vegetables, they were having the time of their life diving beneath the surface. However, it was not all for simple leisure. Within the recesses, hidden deep inside the shadows of the extremely thick dirt and mud, spheres of air bursting from the hidden pockets within. From time to time, glints would show up poking out of the surface of the dirt where these bubbles would sprout. Each time a Pikmin were to swim by, per say, they would most definitely find one. Each time a water faring carrot-resembling creature crawled by on the "lake" floor, they would immediately set out to dig. A few might jolt up for a second in shock, because after an hour of swimming through a puddle it may have felt like the Gold Rush. Which Pikmin had no intention of feeling with their lack of American history studies.

But regardless of any silly geographic history jargon that hardly concerned the little ones, they continued on with their escapades. One by one, each Pikmin that had found a treasure rose up to the shore of their miniature lake, water dripping off of them quickly. Small knick-knacks such as coins were carried out of the pond, bits of mud rinsing off quickly as they bobbed their heads back and forth. While they may have been relics from an ancient civilization, they resembled miniature fortunes for the Hocotatians.

Hocotatians that, while are technically on work days, decided to take advantage of the hidden trove of water. One of them, our ever hungry chef, Louie, nibbled on a snack he had managed to sneak in his suit, lying under the shade. Something resembling a bug antenna was nibbled on, which may have not been the most appealing treat to some, but to Louie it was a masterpiece of culinary prowess. In the water below, a red antenna bobbed out, moving around like a fly above the surface. Underneath the surface, Olimar was treading underneath the water, his spacesuit blocking the liquid from flooding him.

As Louie constantly snacked above him, the space captain was trudging through mud and water, sweating inside of his suit despite the cool water flowing over him. The deeper he delved into the pond, the more the red dot on his antenna would sink. Glancing around the puddle, Olimar would occasionally point to specific points of interest, whether it be shiny objects for the Pikmin to take back towards The Ship for Pokos, or just something nutritious for them to chew on from within their Onion pod homes. His hold on the earth below him began slowly decreasing as Olimar journeyed deeper and deeper into the pond. As he did so, a chain of Blue Pikmin could be seen swimming from each opposite side of the water, carrying treasures to and fro. Throughout their swim, Olimar would attempt to paddle by, which was somewhat of an issue considering his suit was meant for breathing air rather than going for a swim. Yet despite the inconvenience, followed the trail of Pikmin through the water.

Eventually Olimar came across a full break in the line. He frowned, noticing the distinct lack of Pikmin journeying back from the hidden well of the pond. Glancing back, he noticed a few other blues scrambling back through the water, but there were plenty of excited Pikmin brushing past him in an excited frenzy. Growing more and more curious, he made haste in the water, pushing past rocks and sand on the floor, hoping to swim quicker.

Tree roots twisted and turned past the puddle, embedding itself within the dirt, a few bubbles rising here and there. Pebbles were strewn about, serving as little more than miniature obstacles. Dirt particles were kicked about as the captain paddled further in further into the unknown. Olimar would constantly have to pivot and swim around these normally harmless natural details. Eventually after a few minutes of navigating around small rocks in the cool water, he came across an incline in the pond. Arching an eyebrow, he began climbing upwards through the water.

His antenna flashed brightly as it left the water, illuminating the land outside of the miniature lake. A thick wall of wood surrounded him on all sides, multiple roots branching out from within the tree. Looking upwards, he noticed multiple rings imprinted in exposed, tan wood above him. Frowning, he glanced around for any bits of treasure he could manage to find.

A small chuckle could be heard reverberating throughout the hollow tree. A surprised Olimar hopped up, glancing around with more intensity. Walking among the soft brown terra, he found that the further he walked in the dome-shaped space, the more frequent the laughter became. Thoroughly anxious with somewhat of an adventurer's interest in the unknown, he ventured further and further. The more he walked forward in the recesses of the large plant the more it seemed as though he were going insane, with high-pitched cackling flooding his ears.

But before Olimar could lose his mind, he caught a glimpse of something. A white, dainty flower sprung up in the distance, bobbing up and down with the same rhythm of the laughter. As he approached, he could see more and more leaves and flower buds joining in. Sighing, he shook his head. It seemed as though it was just Pikmin chuckling among themselves. However, while his fears of potential predators was put to rest, his suspicion arose further. Lying on the floor, he crawled over towards the squadron. Glancing over a miniature knoll in the dirt, he pursed his lips, eyes narrowing in curiosity.

A collection of Blue Pikmin were huddled around a small circle etched in the dirt, eagerly staring at it. Right by the circle, there appeared to be something akin to a large paint dispenser, a thick blue goo dripped out onto the ground. The Pikmin had found yet another treasure, but for some odd reason, they were not reporting back with their findings. Biting his lip, Olimar stared at the multiple plant people.

One of the Blue Pikmin laughing with the others made a noise akin to clearing its throat, then chattered in its indecipherable language. Springing up to its feet, it jollily waltzed over towards the goop splattering onto the floor, taking a handful. Rubbing the colorful substance in its hand until it was completely flattened and spread across its hands, it proceeded to make way for the circle. Olimar cocked an eyebrow as the Pikmin stooped down, eager spectators watching with bated breath. Raising one small finger, the Pikmin with goop stooped down to the ground, poking the dirt with a finger splashed with blue. It began dragging it through the dirt, the blue rubbing off as it went. Olimar's eyes grew wide in realization.

Quickly, the Pikmin finished up, its hands free of any excess azure coloring, cheering for itself. The spectators sat by the side stared at the marking in the dirt. It was round, specifically, it had three circles. One large one, a second one slightly smaller than it, and a final oval smack dab on the middle. Two lines, which looked similar to eyes sat on opposite sides of Olimar, underneath three crescents poking upward. The cherry on top was a line with something that looked like a burr sticking out of the top circle.

The Pikmin, proud of its work, sat with a prideful grin on its red mouth. The others however were somewhat unsure of what to make of this. Even Olimar could admit that while it was nice, it was somewhat crude in shape. For a moment, the pride the Pikmin had felt began dissipating, and soon it was sweating. Frowning, it placed a fist under its small blue chin in thought, glancing around. Its eyes lit up with a surprised happiness as it looked behind the circle. A familiar red light flashed above a small hill in the ground. Quickly, it sprinted around the circle, confusing the other blue Pikmin for a moment.

The red Pikmin captain perked up as he saw a single Pikmin walk up to him, with a rather happy face to boot. Before Olimar could say anything, the single blue gripped him by his glove, pulling him across towards the circle. Without a word, he just nodded and followed, the two jogging towards the small group. Suddenly, hopping up in their seats from shock, the Pikmin all began staring at their captain as if he had grown a third eye, glancing at one another nervously. The Blue Pikmin that had discovered him however just pulled him towards the circle, only piquing Olimar's interest in this bizarre situation. The single Blue Pikmin began chattering excitedly, raising a single hand. The others stared at the budding artist in confusion. Raising one of its fingers, the blue Pikmin started pointing towards the captain, who simply stood there, waving one hand with a confused grin. With the main attention centered on the captain, the Blue Pikmin standing by his side then directed everyone's gawks towards the sketch on the ground.

Each and every other organism within the tree dome glanced from Olimar, then towards the sketch, then back to Olimar. A collective hum emanated from the Pikmin as they attempted to understand what was happening.

Then their eyes widened. Olimar's face. The drawing on the ground, the three circles, the antenna…It was Olimar's face.

The Hocotatian himself looked thoroughly impressed as well. Slowly but surely, a single Pikmin in the crowd began clapping. That applause grew almost exponentially, with cheers and laughter rising up from the crowd. The artist bowed in response, with Olimar standing at its side, a smile slowly emerging on his face. He too began clapping, adding in a whistle to his applause, feeling rather amazed.

At the sound of a whistle however, all of the Pikmin made a collective, "Oh!" sound, then scrambled towards the canister of paint that rested by the circle. Brushing past Olimar, finally remembering their task at hand, they took hold of the small container, hoisting it with their combined might, and a good twenty Pikmin began walking off with their prize. Olimar blinked for a moment, looking around. He had practically been abandoned by the group. Sighing, he just shook his head, sat down on the ground, and admired his painting, as crooked as it looked to him.

He might have finally found and prompted them to work, but at the prospect of seeing more art depicting him, as selfish as that may have seemed, it was somewhat bitter-sweet.

* * *

AN: I always thought it would neat if Pikmin interacted with the treasures. I mean, you can't just put a canister of open paint in a game and not expect people to try and use it to draw. It may be a cluster of messes considering the erratic Pikmin, but it would be pretty fun to see nevertheless.

Thanks S.P. for reviewing! Yes, beware the Louie without a face, as he will no doubt attempt to cook despite his lack of eyes, burning down your house in the process! ...Uh, or something spooky like that, I dunno.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.


	14. Indiana Olimar

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Indiana Olimar**

A squadron of Pikmin followed a single red light that blinked in the air, another blue light following slowly behind. It was yet another routine operation. Olimar and Louie began their spelunking journey through a wide set of caverns, looking to and fro for a source of income. Their hoard of treasure was growing impressive, with each and every day that passed by. They had collected trinkets that ranged from bottle caps, (or emblems) paint, ("Decorative Goo", The Ship had insisted on calling it) and so on and so forth. The pokos they were earning were astronomical at this point, literally. However, no matter how many treasures they collected, they still ended up short.

It was beginning to take a toll on the two captains. Olimar had plenty of research subjects, from the smallest clover to the largest creature, there was plenty to go around. That stressed him out. He was quite possibly the only person in the universe who cared about how this planet functioned and how the creatures on it thrived, everyone else either wanted to capitalize on its economic prowess or just chew on anything that moved. Sighing, he pressed on with his Pikmin in tow, waiting for a treasure.

On the other hand, Louie was hungry. They had been searching through the cave for a solid hour now because Olimar did not want any of the Pikmin to get hurt, which was easier said than done. All that dodging, swimming, trap disarming, and walking was taking a toll on his stomach. I mean, he himself hardly did any of them, he just commanded the Pikmin too, but regardless, he was steadying himself, the only thing keeping him sane being the prospect of alien cuisine.

Now, while the captains had their own issues to sort out, the army of Pikmin stumbling behind them tiredly were just getting exhausted. It had been about the sixth sub-level and all they had found were small novelty items and the occasional Bulborb to steamroll. But now, everyone's stamina was wavering. A few of the more dead tired ones would just flop down on the ground out of exhaustion, prompting the others to help carry that individual along. It was a mess, to be sure, but they persevered regardless.

Nevertheless, while their feet were starting to buckle under the weight of their exhausted bodies, hope was still generally alive. The constant hums of the Pikmin, as monotone as they were, helped spur the group forth through the caverns. The red and blue lights dangling above the captains' heads led the way past more dank crevices and paths leading to walls still bare of treasure. Olimar swallowed, figuratively wiping sweat off his brow, taking steady steps. Then, all of a sudden, he paused in the middle of the cavern. The line of Pikmin crowding behind him bumped into one another, knocking each other over easily, surprised at the stop. With the added effect of knocking a nonchalant Louie into the mud by accident.

Olimar saw it. If he squinted his eyes just enough, he could glean a gleam from the darker reaches of the caverns up ahead. About thirty centimeters away in the distance, there laid a small treasure that glinted as their artificial lights shone across from it.

At the sight of it, a shrill, yet relieving whistle sounded off, Olimar pointing straight ahead through the cave towards the treasure. Suddenly, all eyes present among the group of about eighty Pikmin and two captains noticed the glinting object. A high-pitched cheer erupted out among their ranks, and, without any second thought whatsoever, all of the Pikmin charged ahead. They continued through the caves with a newfound fervor, even the Louie being carried on the sea of Pikmin looked significantly more energetic, if you can call slightly less deadpan than usual energy, of course. Olimar at the head of the group, they charged ahead until the treasure was just within their grasp.

When they neared it, Olimar slid to a stop yet again, this time without any of the soldiers behind him bumping into each other. Lighting up the treasure, the armada stared in awe. A green heart, built into a silver band sat in front of them. Crimson and azure balls reflected off of the shiny surface. Grinning wildly, the two captains simultaneously pointed towards the treasure and whistled, a chorus of excited Pikmin chatter ringing out through the cave as the whistle caught their ears. Pushing forward, the two Hocotatians grinned as the Pikmin crowded around the humongous bracelet, the both of them extremely excited.

Well, until they heard the snort.

Slowly, Olimar glanced up, staring behind the heart shaped circlet. The artificial light flashed, brightening up the tunnel system ahead. Standing in front of the group, a large, gaping maw, round and seemingly endlessly dark stared back at them. A large, red larva of sorts huffed and puffed, and looked ready to blow them down, stood behind the heart shaped treasure. The Pikmin holding onto the treasure started backing up. Both Olimar and Louie stared on, with blank, albeit terrified stares. The insect could be heard inhaling.

Everything immediately shifted into chaos when it sneezed.

* * *

Now, the tunnels definitely did not feel that long. But when you are trying to tote a treasure along through a cramped space while a boulder chases after you while also on an empty stomach, it may be understandable that Louie continually screamed silently on the run. His cries may have been silent, but his eyes seemed as though they would burst out of his head at any moment throughout his stride. On the other hand, the Pikmin surrounding him were anything but silent, with cries bursting out of the those closest to the rolling health hazard following them. Olimar would whistle frantically at any stragglers, desperately attempting to keep everybody from getting crushed.

The worst part of it all was the boulder's persistence. As Olimar and Louie led them all through the tunnels, the rock seemed to follow them everywhere. Taking a left at a random cavern, they took a look behind them, eyes popping at the fact that it was still tailing them. Pushing on ahead, they swung towards the right swiftly. Snatching towards the back of them both, taking one Pikmin in their hands, the captains continued to run for dear life, attempting to escape the boulder. When they glanced back, however, it appeared as though the boulder was still rolling through the rugged underground terrain.

Throughout their run, they ran to and fro through the system. From right, left, straight, and backwards the whole of them sprinted, the boulder seemingly homing in on the captain duo constantly. As Olimar dashed through a long, straight, naturally made hall, the stone tumbled after him, only shifting in direction when coming across a poor, rundown Louie, whose stomach protested his dash each time he stepped forward with a growl. This continued all the while as a group of Pikmin watched, slowing down their work to witness the chase. Only to promptly squeak and start dashing away again when they came back, leading the boulder back towards them.

After a good, long while of being chased through the tunnel system, suddenly Olimar stopped. Sprinting straight past him, Louie and the squadron of Pikmin carrying the treasure halted to a stop a good ruler's length away from him. Glancing back, the whole lot of them stared in horror as the rock appeared to be ready to squash him in an instant. A few even covered their eyes with their tiny little hands. Then, Olimar turned back, smiled once, then tilted his head to the side.

Suddenly, the rock shifted direction. As if attracted to the red light on his helmet, right after Olimar turned and shifted his head towards the rock wall, it changed course, rolled into the wall, and shattered into pieces. The entire group of Pikmin, and Louie, gaped their mouths in amazement at the bizarre spectacle. Shrugging his shoulders, Olimar went and walked ahead through the group, whistling quietly to himself. Then, he whistled again, this time a much more loud, shrill sound. As if a switch was flicked in their tiny heads, the Pikmin resumed their brisk walk as if nothing had ever happened, though a select few walked back and kicked at the rock fragments scattered about the passage where it was destroyed.

* * *

Making their way through the passageway, the Pikmin found themselves in a round, open area, much less claustrophobic than the rest of the caverns. Hovering in the air just above them was The Ship's Research Pod, the nose cone glancing around impatiently. Light streamed down through a hole in the top, though it was dull and almost useless in comparison to the artificial light that the space shuttle and the suits of the captains provide, who, walked in after the squad of Pikmin hoisting the heart amulet.

Upon noticing the group enter his temporary domain, The Ship scoffed. "Well, it's about time. It's all about punctuality, Olimar."

Rolling his eyes, Olimar just gestured towards the Pikmin carrying the circlet with a shining emerald heart over towards The Ship. As they brought it underneath the Research Pod, the weight of the shiny metal was suddenly taken away completely, the treasure beaming up into the cargo hold of the metallic, triangular flying object. Rubbing his gloves together, Olimar awaited the appraisal excitedly.

"Joyless Jewel." The Ship dubbed it, already unnerving Olimar. "About one hundred Pokos, made out of a false, plastic material. Which leaves about…" The pod made several clicking sounds, then spoke up once more, "Seventy-percent more of the debt left. Hm. If I were you, I'd go back and get more treasure."

The entire group went silent, much to The Ship's bewilderment(and silent awe). Each and every single Pikmin shivered and stared at one another, with a distraught looking Louie falling to his knees, clutching his stomach mournfully. The Ship made a case to shake itself as if it were a head attached to a body, muttering something about lazy employees.

Meanwhile, as the Pikmin slowly filed back into the caverns, Olimar made a case as to write in his digital journal. "Decorated Cannon Beetle-" He began, pen beginning to lower.

"I'm going to make cutlets out of that thing." Louie decided, grabbing Olimar by his hand, pulling him into the caverns.

Eyes growing wide, Olimar heard the lower pitched noise of Louie's whistle sound out, watching as a group of still reluctant Pikmin sighed and followed suit, no doubt not too thrilled at the prospect of playing tag with a boulder.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the delays. Work issues and all.

But hey, thanks you readers like S.P. for being so patient. Perhaps I might write about a Beady Long-Legs, who knows? Heh, thanks again.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you.


	15. Proper Hocotate Freight Safety Guide

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **Proper Hocotate Freight Safety Guidelines**

"Hello again!" The Ship's metallic voice announced. "This is a representative of Hocotate Freight chiming in with an important announcement directed towards all of you budding Hocotate Freight employees."

A collection of red, yellow, and blue Pikmin gathered around in a circle around a floating Research Pod. The Ship's nose cone had them all gathered around ceremoniously under a large tree branch giving them a decent amount of shade, the Pikmin gathered in a small oval as if it were a campfire and it was time to sing some tunes. Except, like a previous event, a handful of them carried filming equipment including but not limited to microphones and cameras. The Pikmin pointed them dutifully towards the dull red hull of the small conical ship piece.

That said, The Ship appeared ready for business and cleared its nonexistent throat. "Now, I'm sure you're all dying to know the various procedures for safety, especially the correct way to tighten your helmets to ensure you don't explode once you touch down on alien planet surfaces."

In the background, a White Pikmin sitting by the stump of the large tree coughed by itself, then laid back comfortably. However, the multiple other multicolored standing by immediately stood up and walked off as a puff of violet smoke emerged from what one could assume was its mouth. A root exposed to the air inhaled the violet plume of smog in an instant. Just as quickly, it began wilting rapidly until it was nothing but a shriveled gray line.

"...Somewhat like that!" The Ship commented with a cheery voice. "Shall we get started?"

* * *

Treasures

The Ship cleared its throat (debatable if it truly had one) and hovered above a small clearing in the grass where a plain circle of dirt was formed. Atop the plateau of dirt a collection of treasures was stacked in a neat pile, or at least as neat as garbage could look. A line of Pikmin equipped with other fragments of discarded objects walked underneath The Research Pod.

"When on an expedition, you may come across several collectable trinkets." Chimed in The Ship as it hovered overhead. "The planets you come across may contain several objects of interest. If you find any-"

The Ship hovered over a cluster of Pikmin carrying what appeared to be a large, yellow, oval fruit. The group set it down on the dirt underneath it and let The Ship take care of the rest. A light beamed down from the bottom of the cone and sucked up the fruit. The fruit made a pop noise as it was accepted into the impossibly spacious Research Pod space.

"Feel free to pick it up and send it to your ship. And by 'feel free', I mean immediately." The Ship spoke up with a hum. "Next treasure."

The Ship waited patiently in the sky until it felt another presence beneath it. Without hesitation, it stowed away the foreign object with a quick hum and a beam of light until it felt it was within its metal hull.

"Ah, let's see…" The Ship muttered. "...Brbrbrbrbrbrbr…?!"

The Research Pod coughed once and spat out the object from its hull. In front of the collection of Pikmin, a orange worm-like creature wriggled out in a daze. The worm took one glance around itself, then immediately wriggled off into the grass. The Pikmin group blinked uniformly, then glanced towards the hovering cone above them.

Said cone then practically tried to run them down using its propeller, the terrified creatures ran and flailed their stems as The Ship yelled, "NO BUGS!"

* * *

Cleaning the Living Spaces!

"Under general circumstances, you will be marooned on an alien planet for quite a few days if on an expedition." The Ship's voice chimed out from its hollow hull.

Standing tall on a grassy plain was The Ship, its nosecone towering over the Pikmin on its admittedly grimy hull. Staring back at the space vessel, several Pikmin with their film gear at the ready stood recording with their equipment.

"It is vital that you keep your station free of dirt and debris. A clean ship is a happy ship, after all." The Ship informed the Pikmin across from it.

The Ship then whistled a very metallic, train-like whistle. The production crew practically dropped dead from the sound, the lot of them dropped their equipment to the side and ducked for cover. They leaped at the ground and hid themselves among the dirt and rocks, a few going as far as to dig under pebbles for protection. Then the whistle came again, only lighter and much more irritated. Once it grabbed their gazes again, the Pikmin, or the ones that were done with their lapse of panic, turned back towards The Ship curiously.

"Ahem." It coughed, and gestured towards itself using its nose cone.

The Pikmin shuffled and glanced at each other. Then a rattling noise caught their attention. The group carrying the filming equipment made their way to the side. Two Blue Pikmin, carrying a small pail of water walked up towards The Ship. Standing straight and stiff, The Ship eagerly awaited its wash. However, what came next was anything but pleasant. The pair of Pikmin carrying the bucket stumbled over a pebble and launched the bucket towards The Ship on accident.

"Ack!" The Ship sputtered in surprise.

The clear liquid was launched into two funnels that led into The Ship. A clamor could be heard, before a whole squadron of White and Purple Pikmin flooded out, wiping their heads dry of water, all the while making squabbling noises as they left the safety of their metal shelter. What with the stampede of Pikmin leaving its hull, The Ship rattled back and forth dangerously. Eventually, as the final purple escaped from the stumbling spaceship, it appeared as though any minute, it would slam into the earth on its side.

However, after it spun like a top for a solid second, The Ship stabilized itself, settling down on the grass. "Phew...er, we'll fix that in post."

All of the Pikmin got to their feet and aimed the cameras and mics again readily. The Ship just sighed and detached the Research Pod from the rest of itself. However, as its nose cone left the top of the space vessel, a creak could be heard. As the propellor spun above the top, The Ship swiveled its "head" around at its main hull. With another last creak, it fell on its side with a loud thud. Spurred from the impact, the Pikmin bounced up into the air with squeaks and cheers, then fell back onto the grass with a chorus of small groans.

"...Let's move on." The Ship muttered, hovering off.

* * *

Appliances and You

"It is important to take advantage at every item you have at your disposal." The Ship spoke as it hovered over its smoking hull. "Under normal circumstances, I would have one of the captains demonstrate- Hey!"

Sitting at the base of the fire, several Pikmin watched curiously while Louie was roasting a sizable chunk of beast meat over the flame, licking his chops as the fire curled over the steak, slowly but surely charring it.

"Shoo! Shoo!" The Ship called out as it hovered towards its burning hull.

Louie immediately noticed the nose cone. Without hesitation, he removed the steak from the stick he cooked it on and dashed off among the grass, rustling the larger stalks.

With an electronic huff, The Ship continued. "For instance, thanks to the expanding wealth of Hocotate Freight, vessels will be equipped with commodities like gas stoves-"

One of the glass cockpits on The Ship shattered with a fiery plume launching into the sky detaching the pod. A sizable trail of smoke followed the debris as it smashed into the ground dangerously close to the unnerved camera crew.

The Ship stared at the destruction below. It coughed. "As I was saying-"

A stove burnt almost beyond recognition landed on top of the glass cockpit, shattering as well as scattering fragments of glass, much to the Pikmin's discomfort. As the shards flew by, they nicked the troopers' stems and faces and caused the camera crew to abandon their equipment haphazardly, thoroughly eliciting panic among the group as boom microphones slammed into the ground.

"..." The Ship's Research Pod would have frowned had it a mouth. "...Ugh."

* * *

Insert Guideline Here

Olimar sat at the base of a large tree that towered over the dirt and grass. It provided quite the comfortable stretch of shade, with several slackers in red, yellow, and blue who lounged among the roots. He sketched a painstaking recreation of the Cannon Beetles he had discovered a day before on his small sketchpad, when a noise caught his attention. He glanced in the other direction cautiously and had already taken notice of the large pillar of smoke that rose from the grass.

He shook his head with a scowl and stood up. Olimar placed his sketchpad by his side and whistled towards the Pikmin, all the while he thought to himself, _"If Louie is hosting a barbeque again I swear."_

* * *

How to Panic- Er, deal with panic, that is.

A Red Pikmin, attempting to escape from the hoard of its other cousins flailing about in the grasp of a dozen others was panicking. The Ship had caught fire for the umpteenth time, and this time the Pikmin were not taking volunteers. A uniform grunt emanated from the crowd and then the Red Pikmin hoisted on top of the many arms of its brethren was launched straight towards The Ship. It smacked into the superheated metal exterior. The Red Pikmin laid there as flames danced around it, much to the displeasure of the other Pikmin who watched at the sidelines. Several of them shook their heads and sighed to themselves despite their lack of any further effort to help.

Looking down from above was The Research Pod humming at the events. "...Well, that certainly could have gone better."

A whistle cut in through the air. The Ship turned towards the left. Captain Olimar, with a handful of Pikmin by his side, dashed forwards with panic rather evident in their eyes. As Olimar sprinted swiftly, the captain tossed red after red, the long-nosed Pikmin flung through the air onto the flaming hull. The fire bounced off of their red skin harmlessly as they began their mission to douse the flames.

Olimar sighed in relief as he watched them work. Then he noticed the several cameras and other filming equipment strewn about the ground and his relief practically burnt up just as quickly as The Ship did. He glared at the Research Pod that hovered above.

The Research Pod scoffed through its metallic loudspeaker. "We need to teach the future employees something. If we let them out into uncharted territories, then how will they survive?"

Olimar wanted to explain that he did it himself. He also wanted to mention that they were technically just a freight company until he heard a noise from behind him. Out of the tall grass, a troop of Pikmin soldiers waltzed out. They hoisted Louie, who appeared bored as always, above their heads and as they did, another group emerged from behind them.

Olimar's jaw practically dropped. What revealed itself from the brush was the largest, polka-dotted steak he had ever seen. As Louie and his squadron walked through the panic, the other Pikmin ceased their work and stared at the oversized meal. Louie whistled once and the multiple Pikmin underneath him set him down in front of The Ship's superheated hull. He whistled again and the Pikmin behind him lifted the steak towards the fire. With a simultaneous grunt, they heaved the monster meat onto The Ship. Immediately, the food blanketed the fire. Seconds passed as a sizzle noise accompanied the wind.

It stopped in a few seconds. Another whistle rang out. Multiple Red Pikmin stormed the meat and lifted the steak off of its impromptu grill. Underneath, a charred hull remained, still in one piece and no longer on fire, but covered in soot. Pikmin cheered in spite of the bizarre and mostly fruitless accomplishment, though Louie appeared somewhat disappointed. He eyed the large flank of Bulborb, grilled on one side, leaving the other peach flesh uncooked. With a sigh, he just advanced towards the meat with an irritated stomach that growled at him impatiently.

Olimar was just as irritated if not angrier than Louie's stomach. He glared at The Research Pod that eyed its burnt husk of a hull somewhat disdainfully, only catching its attention with a simple whistle.

"What?" The Ship asked and pivoted towards Olimar.

It froze in mid-air. The space captain held a smashed camera up, the lens shattered beyond repair. He shot a glare of disapproval.

The Research Pod scowled and spun its propellor in irritation. "That was serious research! If we were not going to use that, what else could we bring back to educate others?"

Olimar reached into his red pack on his back and retrieved a small digital device. On the main screen of the device, several notes scribbled on the screen were neatly arranged into several rows. From behind the screen, The Ship could notice his clearly irritated gaze. As he did so, he dragged over the equipment left on the floor with his boots and kicked them underneath The Research Pod.

"...Fine." It spoke in a metallic, disappointed tone.

As Olimar stowed away his research notes, The Ship beamed up the cameras and microphones. It hovered overhead and observed as Olimar instructed the Pikmin to set The Ship's main hull back up straight and as Louie chewed on a half-cooked steak in the background.

* * *

AN: PNF-404: No recording allowed?

Thanks TheCheesyOne and S.P. for reviewing.

I'll be sure to keep your advice in mind, TheCheesyOne.

S.P., it is a slow climb, but it is making steady progress.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle. See you.


	16. A Withering Appetite

**Pikmin: The Flora and Fauna**

 **A Withering Appetite, All Huff and No Puff**

Louie hungrily waltzed along the ground and bobbed back and forth as if drunk. He tripped over sticks, rocks, and the flat earth beneath him as he miserably wobbled. In reality, he was hardly filled with any alcoholic beverage. It was quite the opposite, really. He was running on empty, bumbling about in a daze while his stomach continued its ceaseless rumbling.

It was not that he had no food. Back at The Ship, he had a shelf dedicated to Hocotate snacks. The only problem was that due to the steak incident a while ago, he had been sentenced to find treasure before he was allowed to eat again.

Unbeknownst to both Olimar and The Ship, that only made things worse. Louie rubbed his stomach and morosely realized that it was time for his third breakfast. He walked across rocks and dirt in search of trinkets. So far, he was fruitless. Nothing but nature all around him. At this rate, he was done for. Louie thought that he would not even get to make it to his third lunch. With a final step, he groaned and planted his face into the soft dirt.

Well, his glass helmet fell into the dirt while his face smushed against the glass. He heard a rumble noise and instinctively gripped where his stomach was underneath his spacesuit. With a grumble, he cursed out Olimar and The Ship, as well as his own hunger.

Of course, the rumbles of his stomach were interrupted by another sound. It might have been his lightheadedness or when his face smacked into the glass, but Louie thought he could hear...laughter?

He stood up and his blue antenna on his helmet followed his lead, straightened up and alert. He glanced around the floor of the forest cautiously with bulbous eyes that would rival that of a Bulborb. This time, he could definitely hear a giggle. Were there any Pikmin around by chance?

Before he could get the chance to check, he found himself forced to the ground yet again. The dirt welcomed him with open arms as he was flung back down to the earth without mercy. The soft brown Terra firma practically smooched his helmet as he smacked into the ground beneath him. Louie quickly got back to his feet and glanced around again with an irritated fervor.

"Hiihiihiihiihii!" The giggle emanated throughout the air again.

Louie's eyes went wide. He turned his head towards the sky ever so slightly. Floating above him was an orange, spherical balloon chuckling at him. A round spout and two stubby flippers flapped in glee as it giggled, its red eyes curled up in a very glad expression.

Immediately Louie's first instinct was food. Just food. He leaped up and attempted to grappled with the mischievous creature. Of course, due to an evolutionary line down the way which eventually led to Hocotatians, he simply hopped up a short distance up in the air and fell down while the creature laughed at him from a higher height.

Louie growled. The act of hostility was in turn received by another gust of air that blew him down to the ground. Another laugh. Louie plucked himself from the ground, raged at the bizarre creature, then walked off. He kicked at dirt and roots as his stomach threw a tantrum.

The creature just laughed it off yet again. As Louie walked past a on his miniature rage-induced rampaged-

That is, if you can call stomach growls and flipping rocks over with one's foot a rampage, the bulbous round balloon guffawed in the air and spun underneath the shade of a nearby oak. The bizarre creature turned around and began to hover off, until it heard a startling chime pierce the air. At the sound of a whistle, the orange organism spun around and stared at the ground.

Louie was back, and this time he came prepared. Behind the lean Hocotatian a party of Blue Pikmin stood firm, with large, bright white flowers and flower buds, as well as a few new recruits with simple green leaves. Mouths agape they stared straight up towards the creature and breathed in and out on a constant basis with tense, wide eyes. As they gasped for air through their red gills on the front of their face that resembled the singular top half of triangular lips, Louie narrowed his eyes and stabbed a finger straight at the floating menace.

The both of them glared straight down at each other. Although in Louie's case it was somewhat less effective. Then the floating creature puckered up its cheeks. It aimed down at the squadron of aquatic Pikmin and blew. Yet again the air puffed out of the creature blasted Louie back and this time his squadron of Pikmin to boot. They were pushed down on their back onto the ground as the crunch of leaves cracked underneath them. White flower petals danced above the group.

...White flower petals?

One of the Pikmin forced to the ground groaned. It leaned up slowly and opened one eye, then immediately wished it had not. Several familiar white petals fluttered down from above them. With a shaky hand, the Blue Pikmin reached up above its head. Its skinny fingers trembled as it felt at the top of its stem.

It felt flat.

The Blue Pikmin sat in horror, the miniature soldier eyes' pupils shrinking by the second. It pat its stem in search of a lofty, cushioned flower only to find the veins and texture that of a flat leaf. Around it, several other Pikmin recovered from the sudden gust. They too noticed their lack of flora stacked upon their head. Nearly each and everyone of the Pikmin grasped at the stalks on top of their heads in panic.

The reactions varied. A few tapped the flowers-turned-leaves and pinched each other as if it were a bad dream. Others began to cry in their own high-pitched language. Then there were the ones in the very back who gripped their green, default leaves and shrugged it off.

The creature floating above them found this greatly amusing and went off on another laughing spree. Underneath its shadow, the blue squadron and their leader fumed. With a hungry stomach and a head clean out of patience, Louie grabbed a Pikmin behind him and launched it towards the enemy.

The Pikmin launched here smacked into the creature with a tremendous first impact. Much to the orange, round hog floating in the air, the hail of blows battering it by one small soldier was painful. Before it had the chance to try and shake it off, Louie fired more and more Pikmin with flicks of his wrist.

The floating creature was flooded with angry Blue Pikmin. They slapped and smacked, scratched and bit. Their bites might have done something if they had any visible teeth, but the way they gummed the creature with red gills just made it appear as they wanted to lick it to death.

No matter their attack strategy, it appeared to have worked. The Pikmin continued their assault until the creature gave in.

When it deflated, to be precise.

One of the Pikmin displeased with its flower trim stabbed their prey with the top of their leaf. The black pupils inside of the scarlet eyes of the hovering beast began shrinking. Not to mention its own body. It began to blow aimlessly and uncontrollably; the Pikmin launched onto it found themselves launched off as the floating hog drifted off. Louie watched as the orange balloon creature blasted off into the stratosphere.

The propulsion of the hog gave up almost instantaneously and the flabby hog simply floated down like a sheet of paper. Louie watched with tantalized eyes as the flat remainder of the creature floated down to earth slowly but surely. Eventually, the creature floated down and Louie's excitement, as well as his stomach's, was peaked.

The excitement took a dive when the creature did not. The organism dropped onto a tree branch above Louie. Approximately three feet above him. Not exactly a high height for possible mammals on the planet, but to Louie, it could not be farther away.

While the Pikmin cheered over their slaughter of the very rude animal, Louie took the branch as a sign to sulk. He planted his head into the earth, much to the plants' surprise. The Pikmin glanced down at him as he rubbed his helmet into the dirt and grass on the ground. The Blue Pikmin exchanged disturbed glances with one another. A few of them just walked off with their heads turned to the sky and nervous hums.

One of the blues stared down worriedly at its Captain. It walked over, reached over Louie's back, and pet him reassuringly as if he were some sort of primitive canine. Louie in turn whimpered and waved the Pikmin off. As he waved, his stomach rustled leaves on the ground next to him, as well as nearby troops. With that, a majority of the Pikmin followed the deserters happily as their commander laid on out flat on the ground.

Despite his dismissal, the one Blue Pikmin was not ready to give in. It looked straight up at the branch their foe had fallen on. While quite a far ways up, the Pikmin glared up at it in determination. The blue turned its attention to the ground. Quickly it stooped down and began to scour among the leaves and twigs on the dry ground. It plucked a small wood chip up, raised it over its head, and dashed for the tree.

At the sound of leaves being rustled, Louie groggily lifted his head. He looked straight ahead at the trunk of the tree with a disgusted remorse at the brown bark. The feeling transformed into that of mild, hungry curiosity. He watched the Blue Pikmin stack the bark chip by the side of the tree trunk.

Louie narrowed his already squinted black eyes at the Pikmin's antics. Back and forth it travelled, each time with a new fragment of wood or a pebble. Each time it came back, it stacked a material on top of another, one after another. He watched carefully and curiously, though the hard work he observed only made him hungrier.

Eventually, a few of the other blues walked back to check on the co-captain and how he fared with staving off his insatiable appetite for anything edible. A battalion of the Blue Pikmin marched up somewhat hesitantly as if they themselves were afraid of being victimized by Louie's appetite. Instead, they were greeted by a rather optimistic Louie. Well, as optimistic as Louie gets anyway.

He pointed at the small stack of natural assortments messily place in a pile by the tree and the solitary blue that ran about wildly. Then, with all the grace of a fallen stick, pointed to the others and whistled. The Blue Pikmin fidgeted in confusion as if the task they were assigned was impossible to complete. Nevertheless, when he whistled a second time, they set off with not a thought of their true goal and began to scavenge.

The scavengers transformed into a line. One after another, throughout the forest floor, more blues began to pick up any small trinket they could get their hand on. Among the floor, a sizable brown coat button, a discarded battery, and a box that may have been filled with coloring tools of sorts were found. They too were contributed to the pile. This continued for what felt like hours on end…

* * *

All the while, Olimar sleepily departed from cockpit of The Ship. Captain Olimar dropped onto the flat, shaved grass in front of three, just as sleepy as he was Onions. The flowers on top of the three primary colored Onions rotated in a fatigued axis, the petals spun a slow salute to the sun. He attempted to rub his tired eyes and smudged his glass helmet instead, much to his mild irritation.

"Good morning Olimar!" A metallic voice blared at him from behind. If he was not entirely awake before, he certainly was now. "Off to another day of hard, menial labor?"

A clockwork motion of his eyes rolled in Olimar's brain and prompted him to take The Ship's nonsense with a grain of salt. He stumbled across the grass somewhat slowly at first until gravity and the morning overtook him and he was off. A brisk jog invaded his step, and soon enough he found himself directly underneath the Red Pikmin's own Onion, willing and ready to find some treasure. Underneath the crimson glow of the Onion, he glanced up and whistled at the shelter.

Only to be responded to with the almost noiseless wind.

The wind might not have made contact with his skin, but a cold sense went up his back regardless. He frowned and let out another whistle with his lips. Yet again, nothing to write home about in terms of attendance.

"If you're looking for Pikmin, Louie's already one step ahead of you." The Ship filled in. "Took out an army's worth. Hasn't come back for at least one hour on this planet."

A scowl crossed Olimar's face, that of sheer disbelief.

"I'd say that he's hunting for your position, Olimar!" The Ship joked in its electronical tone.

His scowl only hardened. With a glare of suspicion, he cursory glanced about the landing site. Flat grass and a few larger than life trees speckled across the landscape. Olimar stared over at the light expanse of forest with a frown and gazed at the brush and leaves clustered among the ground dyed orange and brown, a result of autumn's handiwork.

As he looked, he managed to spot a peculiar sight. Two green leaves emerged from the fall brush and revealed themselves to be a duo of Blue Pikmin. Olimar watched in utter curiosity as they walked past him. Next to the Yellow Onion a few green stalks grew high. White petals surrounded pellets attached to the stem of the stalks, pellets with a large number "one" emblazoned on the red and blue surface.

Olimar recalled that these plants were Pellet Posies. Simple sources of nutrients for the Pikmin, something that popped up very prevalently on the planet's surface. He continued to watch as the Pikmin advanced on the plants. They leapt onto the pellets and smacked the flower with their leaves repeatedly until the Pikmin finally prevailed. As if they had enough of the scuffle, the Pellet Posies shrunk back into the earth and yielded their colorful pellets.

What happened next only heightened Olimar's suspicion. The duo of Blue Pikmin grabbed the pellets and walked off back in the direction of whence they came, back into the brush of the forest floor with their pellets. Curiosity peaked, Olimar steadily followed them into the expanse of the forest. He walked past the circular encampment of Onions and spaceship and slowly and quietly tailed the two Pikmin.

They trekked for a few minutes through tree and twig, the Blue Pikmin so absorbed in their task that they hardly noticed Olimar. Olimar wondered if they had found another canister of paint for a moment. Then he saw it.

His jaw dropped. A culmination of trash, treasure, and leaves was stacked high up besides a tree. Several other blues made haste in adding to the pile. One after another they pushed an extra garbage piece into the already ginormous pile in a line; Olimar watched their orderly yet astounding progress with large open eyes.

Repetitive crunch sounds also got his attention. Olimar traced the pile up towards the top with his sight. At the very top of the pile was none other than Louie, who hopped up and down at the peak of the pile. He grasped and reached at the deflated orange creature with a steady rhythm. Each time something was added into the junk beneath him, he ascended very slightly.

Louie narrowed his eyes. He was so close. Just a little more.

With one last tremendous hop, he skipped up at the branch and grabbed. The now leathery orange skin of the hog-like creature slipped off into his blue glove and off the tree branch.

Several things happened in sequence. A large smirk crossed his face. The Blue Pikmin underneath him cheered. Olimar gazed on in awe.

Not to mention, the pile toppled over.

* * *

When the dust cleared, Olimar emerged from an empty cardboard match box, worn out from the back to the point where a hole remained. He would have waved the debris out of his face, but luckily for him his glass helmet easily prevented himself from being smoldered by dirt. He glanced about the mess. Blue Pikmin popped up from empty spaces in the debris and stretched, apparently fine having ignored several heavy objects dropped down on them.

Olimar arched an eyebrow down as he untangled himself from the match box. He surveyed the wreckage with a newfound interest. Several treasures he spied in the cluster of wood chips and twigs. Olimar was astounded. Perhaps The Ship was correct about its assumption on Louie?

Louie. Olimar furrowed his brow and looked about. Suddenly, a blue blur burst out of the pile and rushed past him. Olimar found himself spun about in a dizzy axis without a warning. The rotation eventually came to a close and allowed him to fall back on his backside, somewhat confused. He shot a mystified stare in the direction the blur went.

To his horror, he noticed Louie depart the woods. He carried the deflated hog over his head as he ran. The pure sight of his co-employee with a dead, edible organism shocked him to the core.

Without a moment to spare, Olimar spun around and whistled frantically. The Blue Pikmin among the remains of the once great collection of trash and organic matter jolted up and flocked to Olimar. They kicked off from the remnants and gave chase as Olimar ran off after a very, very gleeful Louie with an appetite to boot and without a second to spare.

* * *

Louie chewed on the back of his pencil contently in the safe confines of The Ship's living quarters. He stared down at a notepad as his pencil stuck out of the side of his lip. Scribbled on the notepad was a hastily written recipe. Over the recipe hang a portrait of the bizarre floating hog he had defeated with the aid of his squadron, labelled the 'Withering Blowhog'.

"Hang this creature on a rack and sun-dry on a hot afternoon. When suitably crisp, grind the sun dried beast into powder. Makes a great substitute for cayenne or curry powder!" Was hastily written underneath the recipe, coated in a light orange dust.

Louie grinned, and in doing so let the pencil drop from his lip. His mouth reverted to a simple "o" as he attempted to reach for it. In doing so, he found that the ropes tied around his arms and body restrained him from trying.

As he sat in his cot, coiled up in a rope as he reached for the pencil on the metallic floor with his foot, he glanced over at Olimar. His co-employee, helmet off, sat on his own bed, just shook his head at Louie. He leaned down, sighed, and rested on the back of his cot.

Louie shrugged and licked his chops contently before mirroring the other captain. He plopped down on his cot, turned in his bed, and started to drift off to dreamland.

* * *

Outside, The Ship stood tall on its three fins greatly annoyed. The day was almost over. The Pikmin had filed back into their Onions, treasure had been collected, and food was cooked. There was only one problem.

The Ship's chassis groaned as it began to rocket off into the sky, the sunset light reflecting off of its charred torso. "We're having the stove and the oven uninstalled."

* * *

AN: Well, hasn't it been a while? Sorry, I've been a little busy with a few other stories. If you've been patient enough to wait for this story, then thanks for being so patient.

Thanks for reading, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, see you when I see you.


End file.
